Donald Trump wants to end cashless bail nationwide, threatening to withhold federal funding from states that allow the practice.
Donald Trump’s latest executive order targets cashless bail nationwide, threatening to cut federal funding from districts that maintain such policies.
Trump has long opposed cashless bail, a system that allows defendants facing lesser charges to avoid posting bail. He and other conservative lawmakers argue it endangers public safety by putting more accused offenders back on the streets. However, studies show these policies have not led to higher crime rates.
“Somebody kills somebody, they go and don’t worry about it,” Trump told reporters while signing the order. “No cash. Come back in a couple of months. We’ll give you a trial. You never see the person again.”
The order also calls to move applicable criminal defendants in Washington, D.C., to federal custody to ensure they’ll be held in federal prison pretrial.
“Our great law enforcement officers risk their lives to arrest potentially violent criminals, only to be forced to arrest the same individuals, sometimes for the same crimes, while they await trial on the previous charges,” the executive order reads. “This is a waste of public resources and a threat to public safety.”
The move comes as Trump deploys the military across Washington, D.C., in what he calls a crackdown on crime, while threatening to extend the strategy to Illinois, New York, and Maryland next.
“That was when the big crime in this country started,” Trump said on Monday. “They kill people, and they get out – cashless bail,” he added. “They thought it was discriminatory to make people put up money because they just killed three people lying on a street.”
Supporters of cashless bail argue the traditional system is unfair, allowing wealthy defendants to buy their pretrial freedom while poorer individuals remain jailed as their cases proceed. They argue courts should base release decisions on whether someone poses a threat to the community, not on their ability to pay.
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Source: Black Enterprise
