Ending Money Bail in Federal Courts & Cutting States’ Grant Funding Unless They Follow Suit (S. 3271)

What is S. 3271?

(Updated February 15, 2019)

This bill would prohibit the use of money bail in federal criminal proceedings and seek to encourage states to move away from the use of money bail by offering grants through the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) to implement alternate pretrial detention systems. Beginning three years after this bill’s enactment, states would be prohibited from receiving DOJ grants if they still use money bail systems. Additionally, DOJ would be required to produce a study three years after the bill’s enactment,

Argument in favor

America’s prison system is far too big, in part because many accused criminals are too poor to afford their bail and have to remain in custody until their court date. Money bail has effectively criminalized poverty and created a ‘debtor prison’ system, and the federal gov’t should do what it can to undo it.

Argument opposed

While the money bail system needs some obvious reforms to prevent abuses, it shouldn’t be eliminated altogether at the federal level and the federal government shouldn’t coerce states into changing their pretrial release system by threatening to withhold grants.

Impact

Defendants posting bail; communities; law enforcement; state governments; and the court system.

Cost of S. 3271

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced this bill to end the money bail system:

“Poverty is not a crime and hundreds of thousands of Americans, convicted of nothing, should not be in jail today because they cannot afford cash bail. In the year 2018, in the United States, we should not continue having a ‘debtor prison’ system. Our destructive and unjust cash bail process is part of our broken criminal justice system -- and must be ended.”

A column from the Federalist Society argues that the money bail system is constitutional, and that reform efforts should be focused on state policies:

“Bail remains on as firm a constitutional footing today as when the bail clause was written into the Bill of Rights. Arguments against money bail should remain focused on discrete practices that may be unlawful or bad public policy. The question that states ought to ask, therefore, is not whether the Constitution needs to be radically reinterpreted, but whether bail remains an effective means of ensuring appearance at trial, and if equally or more effective means now exist, is some change in order?”

Media:

• Sponsoring Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Press Release
  
• Reason
  
• The Intercept
  
• USA Today