California ushered in a new era for criminal justice in August when Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that eliminates money bail as a way of keeping pretrial defendants being bars. On Friday, the Judicial Council met to hash out how the courts will actually put it into practice.
Read moreDallas County’s automatic money bail system violates poor defendants’ civil rights by not considering their ability to pay, a federal judge ruled late Thursday.
Read moreDespite the recent passage of a law banning the money bail system in California, a federal judge will still have to decide whether bail is constitutional in a legal challenge of the practice.
Read moreFlanked by lawmakers and state’s chief justice, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Tuesday doing away with California’s money bail system – enacting criminal justice reforms that have been lauded in the Legislature but sharply criticized by civil rights advocates for not going far enough.
Read moreWeathering another round of criticism from opponents, a bill to fundamentally change California’s pretrial money bail and detention system cleared its second-to-last hurdle in the state Senate on Tuesday.
Read moreAmid heated debate, the California State Assembly voted Monday to pass a bill that would reform the state’s money bail system, though criminal justice reform organizations criticized risk assessment tools central to the legislation.
Read moreLawmakers advanced a controversial bill Thursday that aims to reform California’s money bail system though recent amendments have alarmed advocates who say the current bill could authorize prosecutors and judges to promote indefinite pretrial detention.
Read moreMisdemeanor court judges in Houston urged a Fifth Circuit panel Tuesday to scrap a federal judge’s injunction they say is to blame for a spike in people failing to show up for court.
Read moreAssembly-line, lock-them-up criminal justice is a thing of the past in Texas’ biggest county, thanks to a federal judge who has mandated the prompt release, starting July 30, of some poor defendants charged with petty crimes with no payment of bail.
Read moreCriminal justice reform in Texas’ biggest county took another tortured step forward Thursday, as combatants in litigation over the county’s bail policies laid out their differences before a federal judge who is narrowing her injunction in the case.
Read moreThe California Supreme Court will decide the constitutionality of the state’s money bail system, granting review late Wednesday to the case of Kenneth Humphrey, whose $350,000 bail led to an appellate court ruling requiring judges to consider a person’s ability to pay when setting bail.
Read moreOver 65,000 people were arrested and booked by the Los Angeles Police Department in 2017 and were levied over $3.6 billion in bail money, according to a study released Tuesday.
Read moreA 64-year-old arrestee whose $350,000 bail led to a seminal appellate ruling on bail reform in California was released from jail Thursday by a San Francisco trial judge, who admonished the man not to do anything that might land him back in court.
Read moreA man whose $350,000 bail on a charge of robbing his neighbor of $7 became a rallying cry for the bail system’s critics, will remain in jail for now until the neighbor has a chance to speak in court.
Read moreA class claims Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart’s new policy unconstitutionally delays the release of jail detainees, pending his personal review, even though they have already posted bail.
Read moreA federal judge on Monday certified a class of pretrial arrestees in a class action fighting money bail in San Francisco.
Read moreSan Francisco made history Tuesday by becoming the first city in the nation to introduce a law to eliminate many of the fines and fees that come with being arrested, including fees for probation costs, booking and ankle monitors.
Read moreThe federal judge who forced Texas’ biggest county to overhaul its bail system ordered Harris County criminal judges on Tuesday to prove they did not withhold evidence of policies against releasing poor misdemeanor defendants from jail.
Read moreIn a split ruling Tuesday, a federal judge denied summary judgment to both California bail agents and a proposed class of San Francisco arrestees challenging money bail as unconstitutional.
Read moreAt a hearing Tuesday, a federal judge lit into a lawyer challenging San Francisco’s bail scheme over evidence she said would be inadmissible in a federal court.
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