As the flaws, injustices, and harmful effects of cash bail systems have come under the spotlight, some plaintiffs have successfully brought § 1983 claims against municipalities in federal court challenging the constitutionality of judicially promulgated bail schedules. Adherence to these bail schedules deprives detainees of individualized bail-setting hearings and results in the detention of those who are unable to pay the prescheduled bail amount....
Bail
As immigration courts work through never-ending dockets and as detention centers operate beyond capacity, scholars and advocates have raised questions about the effects of pretrial immigration detention on outcomes for noncitizens. While pretrial detention is studied frequently in the criminal context, few empirical studies have addressed the consequences of pretrial immigration detention in particular. To help fill this gap in the literature,...
Introduction When a Louisiana state court set Ronald Egana’s bail at $26,000, Egana’s mother and close friend did what hundreds of thousands of arrestees do each year: They sought the services of a commercial bail bondsman. Blair’s Bail Bonds agreed to post Egana’s bail in exchange for a twelve-percent nonrefundable premium, the state-approved rate in […]
On any given day, local jails detain nearly half-a-million people who cannot afford bail. Opposition to this status quo, and to monetary conditions of pretrial release more broadly, has reached a fever pitch in recent years. Critics from across the political spectrum decry bail as a wellspring of mass incarceration and acknowledge its profoundly discriminatory effects, particularly within low-income communities of color. Academic studies link bail...