cash-bail

COMMENTARY

Bail reformers are facing backlash. Here’s what the facts say | Thursday Morning Coffee

BY: - April 7, 2022

Rising crime rates are fueling anti-reform arguments. But the data are unclear.

COMMENTARY

Report: Unaffordable cash bail is ‘a statewide crisis’ in Pa. | Monday Morning Coffee

BY: - January 3, 2022

Local magisterial district justices 'routinely' set bail that people can't afford, triggering a 'cascade of harmful consequences.'

Wolf says he opposes Pa. House bill tightening rules on nonprofit bail funds

BY: - November 18, 2021

Gov. Tom Wolf’s office says it opposes a controversial bill that passed the Pennsylvania House this week that would regulate nonprofit bail funds as for-profit bail bondsmen.  In an email Wednesday evening, Wolf spokesperson Elizabeth Rementer said that the bill would create barriers to the nonprofit groups, which collect community donations to pay to free […]

COMMENTARY

Illinois is ending cash bail. Does it have the blueprint for Pa.? | Wednesday Morning Coffee

BY: - January 27, 2021

How a state famed for political corruption is getting it right on criminal justice reform. Could Pa. follow suit?

COMMENTARY

‘A de facto debtor’s prison’: Pgh. Rep. Summer Lee wants to end cash bail | Monday Morning Coffee

BY: - January 18, 2021

'The bail process in Pennsylvania too often centers on an individual’s ability to pay rather than the individual’s risk to public safety,' Lee said.

In Lancaster, criminal justice reform advocates say $1M bail was meant to ‘punish or deter’ protests

BY: - September 17, 2020

The groups, Lancaster Stands Up, SafeHouse Lancaster, Green Dreamz, ACLU PA, and the Lancaster NAACP, denounced what they described as a “broken criminal justice system.” 

COMMENTARY

The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the urgency of ending cash bail | Opinion

BY: - April 15, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic exposes the deep flaws in Pennsylvania’s broken cash bail system, both in Philadelphia and across the commonwealth.

Philly D.A., Defender Association, ACLU looking to reduce prison, jail populations

BY: - March 22, 2020

The D.A.’s office and the Defender Association have been focused on release for those who have already served their minimum sentence and are eligible for parole.

COMMENTARY

Pa. ACLU asks Supreme Court to tell Philly to stop jailing people who can’t afford cash bail | Friday Morning Coffee

BY: - January 31, 2020

"When a person is detained, even if only a few days, they can lose their job, access to vital medical care, an apartment or house, and even their children," advocates wrote.

Cash bail, explained: How it works and why criminal justice reformers want to get rid of it

BY: - July 14, 2019

Pre-trial detention is supposed to keep the public safer and make sure people show up for court. But the Pennsylvania branch of the American Civil Liberties Union argues that Philadelphia’s cash bail system does neither, and instead “effectively criminalizes poverty.”