Editorial: Bail reform becomes DeSantis’ latest work of deception

Bail reform, or ending cash bail for people arrested on some or all charges, is not, from a statistical standpoint, a controversial topic. That’s why it has drawn strong bipartisan support in so many states and cities. It immediately reduces the cost burden on county jails. Combined with thoughtful pretrial supervision, including ankle monitors for some defendants, there’s no drop-off in the number of people who show up when required. It significantly reduces the devastating impact that arrests can have on families of people accused of crimes, particularly in low-income, working households that are one bad break from homelessness.

Despite all the noise, there’s no real proof that bail reform increases crime rates. While it’s true that violent crime rates have shown an upward trend in some communities that have enacted bail reform, crime rates are also rising in jurisdictions where punitive cash-for-bail rules persist. Recent FBI statistics have not yet caught up with COVID-era crime surges, but in the top 10 most violent states, none had enacted bail reform ― but half the states with the lowest increases in violent crime rates had bail reform in place, including New Jersey and California, which were among the first to all but eliminate cash bail.

So why are Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislative leaders turning this issue into their latest “stop woke” rallying cry?

Republican leaders have focused on bail reform and other proposed changes to Florida’s resource-devouring, unjust justice system as the latest battle station on their politically motivated warpath. In Miami, the governor called out “rogue judges,” saying he thought proposed reforms would make Florida less safe.

What is bail reform?

Bail is a straightforward concept. People who are arrested and locked up in county jails can be quickly freed if they can post a sum of money to guarantee they will show up for hearings, trials and even sentencings. If they show up, they’ll eventually get that money back.

But many can’t afford to post bail. So they sit in jail — or pay bail-bond agencies a fixed fee, usually about 10% of their bail, for a bond that guarantees their appearance. They don’t get that money back, which explains why the bail bond industry pours so much money into political campaigns. Even at 10%, the cost of release is often far more than an income-constrained household can afford. As a result, more than 30,000 people — about 60% of Florida’s jail population — remain behind bars despite their legal designation of “innocent until proven guilty.”

In fact, there’s reason to believe that some innocent people plead guilty or no contest so they can be released faster. Others are released having served more time than they would have been sentenced to under Florida’s guidelines. Almost every one of them returns to their communities jobless, sometimes homeless and struggling to rebuild their lives.

It’s a broken system, and it’s one that few nations outside the U.S. still use.

Reform can mean ending bail for nonviolent offenses and low-level felonies. In some states, judges retain the ability to set bail for someone who represents a significant flight risk or is charged with a very serious crime; judges also have the leeway to say that a dangerous criminal with a long record can be denied pretrial release. Many jurisdictions have adopted pretrial intervention or citation programs that allow people charged with minor offenses to avoid the stigma of a criminal conviction, which lets them keep working and contributing to society if they stay out of trouble.

Florida’s about-face

It’s a great model for Florida to follow. A few years ago, that’s the direction the state was headed with strong bipartisan support. In a 2019 op-ed for the Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun Sentinel, an emerging GOP star in the Legislature boasted about Florida’s justice reform moves, which didn’t include direct bail reform but did lower the rate of pretrial incarceration: “We are not over-punishing low level, nonviolent offenders that have a low risk to the community and a high chance of rehabilitation.”

Who wrote that? Rep. Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, who’s now speaker of the Florida House. Like DeSantis, Renner is a former prosecutor who knows how compassionate reform can create a less brutal path to redemption for those most likely to suffer disproportionately, including minorities the poor. Yet now, Renner echoes DeSantis’ divisive rhetoric against bail reform and other justice-balancing initiatives.

The governor’s backward-looking view is already bearing malignant fruit. In the days after his appearance at a Miami police conference, the chief judge of Miami-Dade courts announced that a two-year bail reform effort was being put on hold. We hope officials in Broward, Orange and Osceola counties stick to their commitments to end cash bail for some offenders.

Florida’s self-styled “law and order” governor is weaponizing ignorance to destroy any chance of bipartisanship or shared accomplishment.

Local officials should stand firm and speak out if the Legislature moves to roll back the clock. Allowing the governor to undermine justice just to score political points will cost local taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and destroy lives that could easily be put back on the right track.

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The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney, and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.