Debate Over Cashless Bail Continues as Studies Show No Public Safety Impact

The Trump administration has been critical of cashless bail, a policy that allows people to be released pending trial. Recently, the administration signed two executive orders targeting “cashless bail,” permitting the release of people arrested pending trial without requiring them to pay money.

One executive order directs Washington, D.C., to keep individuals “held in federal custody to the fullest extent permissible under applicable law.” The other order calls for withholding federal funds from states that “substantially eliminated cash bail as a potential condition of pretrial release from custody” for many offenses.

The Trump administration has been criticizing the cashless bail policies for threatening public safety, because it can release dangerous individuals from detention.

However, it is important to note that cashless bail does not necessarily mean that everyone is released unconditionally to await trial. Instead, judges can detain individuals who pose a threat to a specific person or the community. Judges also have the power to impose conditions on pretrial release, including electronic monitoring.

Recent studies by legal and criminal justice scholars who have examined bail reforms across the United States have found that jurisdictions that reduce reliance on cash bail can maintain public safety.

These jurisdictions can also prevent mass pretrial incarceration, which disproportionately affects people who cannot afford bail.

Three jurisdictions studied in detail are Washington, D.C., New Jersey, and Illinois.

In Washington, D.C., where cash bail has been eliminated and replaced with a system that pairs pretrial release with supervision levels tied to the risk that the court determines a defendant may pose, 87 percent of people arrested are released pretrial. Despite that, the city has experienced high court appearance rates and low reoffending rates. Between 2019 and 2024, 89 percent of defendants attended scheduled court appearances, and 90 percent remained arrest-free, according to a study on bail reform.

In New Jersey, cash bail has been replaced by a framework that relies on judicial assessments and pretrial monitoring to determine whether a defendant should be detained or released. Within two years of implementation, the jail population decreased by 44 percent. However, this reduction was not accompanied by an increase in failures to appear in court.

On average, around 30 percent of people arrested daily across the United States are serving sentences following criminal convictions; the remaining 70 percent are in jail awaiting trial. This is not because a court has found them a public safety risk, but because they are unable to pay bail.

These can lead to serious consequences such as job loss, housing instability, and even suicide. Suicide is the leading cause of death in jails, and pretrial detainees are more likely to die by suicide than those serving sentences, according to the study.

A 2012 study in New York found that even when bail is set at relatively low amounts, such as $500 or less, only 15 percent of defendants can afford to pay and avoid jail.