Beyond Bail: The Necessity for Cash Bail Abolition and Humane Reforms

Cash bail invites discrimination based on income in pretrial detention, is counterintuitive, and costs states billions of dollars for little benefit. Reform efforts aiming to abolish cash bail at state-levels are a positive step in the right direction, but more can be done to take racially biased judicial discretion out of pretrial detention determinations and the treatment of pretrial detainees. This paper argues that cash bail abolition and limitations on judicial discretion in pretrial detention decisions are necessary for the pursuit of justice.