Over the last few years, reformers have been advocating that changes should be made to the Criminal Justice System on the grounds that bail was not needed; that defendants would go to court anyway. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these policies were used and gave us a preview of what the bail reform movement would look like if the policies were retained after the pandemic.
Jeff Reisig is the Independent District Attorney for Yolo County in California. Mr. Reisig released two reports looking at recidivism (new crime) rates of defendants released on zero bail in Yolo County. The first report was issued in August 2022 and found that over 70% of the individuals released on zero bail committed new crimes within 18 months of release.
One of the criticisms to this report was that there was no control group of individuals released on surety bail to give any kind of comparison. Therefore, in February 2023, an updated analysis was released adding a comparison or control group to see if there was a difference in outcomes for individuals released on bail vs. individuals released on zero bail. The results were shocking. Individuals simply released committed new crimes at a substantially higher rate and more quickly than individuals released on surety bail. Why was there such a difference? Join us for this episode of The Bail Post.
If you would like to see the August 2022 report- CLICK HERE.
If you would like to see the February 2023 analysis- CLICK HERE.