Eight years ago, New Jersey became among the first in the nation to effectively eliminate cash bail. Now, some of the state’s most powerful Democrats want to roll back those changes amid rising crime and political lessons from neighboring New York.
Eight years ago, then-Republican Gov. Chris Christie teamed up with Democrats to pass a major overhaul of New Jersey’s criminal justice system, ushering through legislation that made the state among the first in the nation to effectively eliminate cash bail.
“Bail reform was meant to help non-violent people suffering from mental illness and drug addiction to stay out of jail,” Sarlo said in a phone interview. “It was not intended for violent and repeat criminals such as burglars and car thieves who belong in jail.”approved a constitutional amendment The state judiciary maintains the changes are accomplishing their primary goal — stopping defendants charged with minor offenses from languishing in jail because they can’t afford a modest bail payment. There are few cases where those released without bail are charged with serious crimes, the court system says.found 12 percent of jail inmates in 2012 were being held because they couldn’t pay bail amounts of $2,500 or less. By 2021, that figure had dropped to 0.4 percent.
that showed the number of car thefts in New Jersey in the first nine months of each year went from fewer than 8,800 in 2017 to 10,702 in 2022. But those arrests dropped significantly after the launch of the Christie-backed bail changes, before spiking even more dramatically in 2021, dropping to just under 7,600 in 2020 before spiking to nearly 9,000 in 2021 and 10,700 in 2022.showing dozens of suspects who were released for auto theft were rearrested for similar offenses.
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