Georgia could require cash bail for 30 more crimes, including many misdemeanors
ATLANTA– Georgia, once a self-proclaimed leader in criminal justice reform, is sliding a little further toward its old “lock-em-up” ways.
Senators voted 30-17 on Thursday to require cash bail for 30 additional crimes, including 18 that are always or often crimes, making Senate Bill 63 just one vote away in the House of Representatives.
The measure also aims to prevent charitable bail funds or even individuals from bailing multiple people out of jail, reserving that option only to those who meet the legal requirements to be bail bonds companies.
The move could land poor defendants in jail when accused of crimes for which they are unlikely to ever end up in prison. It could also worsen overcrowding in Georgian province’s lockups. It affects changes passed almost unanimously in 2018 under Republican Gov. Nathan Deal that allowed judges to release most people charged with crimes without bail.
It’s part of an effort by Republicans across the country to increase reliance on cash bail, even as some Democratic-led jurisdictions end cash bail altogether or drastically limit its use. That division was illustrated last year when a court upheld Illinois’ plan to abolish cash bail, while Wisconsin voters approved a constitutional amendment allowing judges to consider prior convictions for violent crimes before setting bail.
Republican Sen. Randy Robertson of Cataula, a longtime sheriff’s deputy and former state chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police, said Thursday that the measure is about “making our communities safer.” The justice system doesn’t care if suspects are released without bail.
But Roy Copeland, a Valdosta attorney who served on Deal’s Criminal Justice Reform Council, said the measure will result in people accused of crimes losing their jobs, homes and custody of their children if they go to jail getting stuck and unable to post bail.
“You’re literally taking food out of the mouths of children and adults,” Copeland said.
This isn’t the first time Republicans have expanded the list of crimes in Georgia that require the suspect to post bail for cash or property. That list, which already stands at 24, would be expanded even further. Bail would be required for a second or subsequent offense of reckless driving or criminal trespass, as well as for any misdemeanor.
People would also have to post bail if they fail to appear in court for a traffic ticket if it is their second or subsequent offense. The maximum penalty for failing to appear for a traffic ticket is three days in jail. That’s also the time authorities have to bring someone to court after he or she has been arrested on a warrant for failure to appear.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has said he wants stricter bail conditions. With state lawmakers, but not Kemp, facing voters this year, it could be a sign that Republicans plan to be as soft on crime on their Democratic opponents as they are in 2022. Kemp has also backed other anti-crime proposals , including longer sentences for some criminals
Some Republican supporters of Deal’s initiative say it is not a betrayal of those years of effort, noting that a Deal-backed provision requiring judges to consider a person’s ability to pay when setting bail is still is always in force.
“A big part of criminal justice reform has been about trying not to be one-size-fits-all,” said Sen. Brian Strickland, a Republican from McDonough. “This maintains discretion.”
But Sen. Josh McLaurin, an Atlanta Democrat, rejected the idea that judges would set ultra-low bail amounts or that bail bonds would be willing to take over that case.
“If we say by law that prison is where we want people to be, and we create structural incentives for people to end up there, then those funnels will direct people there,” McLaurin said.
Several Democrats suggested the move to limit bail amounts is related to the ongoing prosecution of protesters against police and the fire training center that Atlanta is building. Those protesters derided the project as “Cop City.” Among the 61 indictments that Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr won against protesters in September were charges against three people who operated a bail fund.
The Bail Project, a fund that says it has rescued more than 1,500 Georgians from prison since 2019, questioned the decision to limit groups and people who do not meet the requirements to be serfs to bailing out just three people per year in any city. or province.
“This is like imposing restrictions on a food supply while claiming to solve hunger,” spokesperson Lizzie Tribone said in a statement.