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Bail bonds businesses are visible across from the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack.

(Frances Micklow/The Star-Ledger)

By Craig Hirshberg

At any given time, up to 15,000 individuals in New Jersey jails are awaiting hearings on their cases.



More than half of them are being held on charges for nonviolent offenses. Many could be released on bail pending trial, but lack the financial resources to pay the arbitrary bail amounts set by the current New Jersey bail schedule. More than 40 percent of those held in county jails are there solely because of their inability to pay bail, and their average stay in jail is almost a year. Suspects who pose no danger to the community are incarcerated for months and even years if they can't afford often small bail amounts. At the same time, the most dangerous suspects can be quickly released because they may have access to financial resources.

This is a shocking failure of the justice system and creates problems far beyond confinement of people who have been charged but not yet convicted of any crime. Their confinement results in stigmatization over something they may be innocent of, it can lead to job loss when employers cannot hold their position open for months at a time; and it causes hardship for their family because of lengthy separation and income loss.

Taxpayers are paying more than $30,000 per year per individual to incarcerate people who have been charged but not convicted of any crime.

However, change is on the horizon. In June, New Jersey took a huge step forward when the Legislature passed, and the Governor signed, the Bail Reform Act. This new law will encourage nonmonetary release options, require arrestees to undergo a risk assessment before their initial bail hearing, and establish pretrial service agencies within each county to monitor and counsel those awaiting trial.

One crucial step remains: amending the New Jersey Constitution to make this possible. The state Constitution requires that judges set bail for all crimes, including murder.

Ballot Question No. 1 asks to change the language in the state Constitution to allow judges discretion in whether to assign bail. Without passage, the newly enacted Bail Reform Act will not be implemented. Currently, individuals charged with violent crimes are assured pretrial freedom as long as as they have the money or connections to meet bail. Poor individuals, often unable to raise even 10 percent of their bail amount, sit for up to a year in jail pending trial on nonviolent charges.

A Yes vote, allowing discretionary use of bail will:

-- Protect communities by allowing judges to deny bail to suspects believed to be dangerous and who pose a threat to public safety.

-- Ensure a fairer and more effective criminal justice process for everyone regardless of wealth.

-- Save millions in tax dollars by reducing the overcrowded jail population.

-- Implement critically needed comprehensive bail reform that will prioritize public safety, encourage fiscal responsibility and protect the rights of suspects, including guaranteed timelines for a speedy trial.

A No vote maintaining the current bail system will:

-- Prevent the bail reform legislation passed by legislators and signed by the governor this summer from taking effect.

-- Continue the devastating effects of mass incarceration on individuals and their families in New Jersey.

-- Allow the release of those deemed to be dangerous but able to post bail back into our communities.

The Rev. Craig Hirshberg is executive director of the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of New Jersey.

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