Bail Discrimination Has Harsh Consequences

Got Money? Cash will get you out of jail if you’re arrested, but if you’re without means you’ll probably languish in jail until your trial. Not only are poor folks more likely to commit crimes later, but a recent study showed African Americans are also more likely to experience discrimination in the system.

“Inequality in the court system begins with bail bonds. We need to get back to the original reason behind bail bonds. To ensure that a defendant shows up to dispose of their case,” says Key West Public Defender Jason R. Smith, who will be one of the panelists in an upcoming ACLU town hall on criminal justice.

Two recent studies highlight the inequities of our system and the dire consequences for both folks who are arrested and society.

“Nationwide, less than 25 percent of felony defendants are released without financial conditions, and the typical felony defendant is assigned a bail amount of more than $55,000 [and the typical defendant earned less than $7,000 in the year prior to arrest,” writes the authors of a study in the American Economic Review bail published last month.

The study also showed that folks who were not released within 3 days of arrest were far more likely to be rearrested than those who were able to obtain release. Folks who can make bail are less likely to lose jobs and income, as well.

A second study by, an at Princeton Economist Will Dobbie and Harvard Law Professor and Economist Crystal Yang, a law professor and economist at Harvard found that the cash-bail system not only negatively impacts those with fewer means, and found evidence of “substantial bias” against African-Americans defendants. 2

Bail bond discrimination, juvenile justice and immigration are the topics for The Pursuit of Criminal Justice in the Florida Keys, an ACLU town hall at 6:30pm, Wednesday March 27 at the Harvey Government Center, 1200 Truman Avenue, Key West.

The panelists are Chief Sean Brandenburg, Key West Police; Charlotte Nycklemoe, chair of the League of Women Voters-Florida Juvenile Delinquency Action Committee; Amanda Velazquez, Key West immigration attorney, and Jason R. Smith, Key West public defender. Federal Magistrate Judge Lurana Snow will moderate.

The public is warmly invited to this free event.

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