More than 7-in-10 criminal suspects released from jail without bail go on to be rearrested for allegedly committing more crimes, a new study reveals.
In early 2020, amid the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, the California Judicial Council required counties to enforce an “emergency bail schedule” which effectively released thousands of criminal suspects from jail without having to pay bail under the guise of reducing prison overcrowding.
“This program designated that the bail for select crimes was dramatically reduced, many to zero dollars,” county officials state.
Yolo County, California, in particular, kept the $0 bail policy in place until June 2021 when the county’s Superior Court enacted a new bail schedule.
The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office, in analyzing release and arrest data during the period where the $0 bail policy was enforced, finds that more than 70 percent of those who were released without bail went on to be arrested for additional crimes.
The analysis also compared recidivism rates over an 18-month period, finding that 78 percent of suspects released without bail were found to be rearrested for crimes while only 46 percent of those who paid bail were rearrested.
Hellbound and Down 