Opinion

Bail reform comes to Harris County, but what about Bexar?

Darrell Jordan, the presiding judge of the Harris County Criminal Courts of Law, talks about a new rule, Local Rule 9.1, that will allow reform the county's current cash bail system Thursday. The new rule allows qualifying misdemeanor arrestees to be released on a personal bond rather than a cash bond. Bexas should consider such reform. less Darrell Jordan, the presiding judge of the Harris County Criminal Courts of Law, talks about a new rule, Local Rule 9.1, that will allow reform the county's current cash bail system Thursday. The new rule ... more Photo: Mark Mulligan /Staff Photographer Photo: Mark Mulligan /Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Bail reform comes to Harris County, but what about Bexar? 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

It took a lawsuit, a stunning appeals court ruling and then a wave election to arrive at this moment, but bail reform has come to Harris County. Bexar County should pay attention.

In an extraordinary order, Harris County’s court-at-law judges effectively wiped out cash bail for the vast majority of people charged with misdemeanor offenses. Rather than being locked up simply because they could not make cash bond, most defendants will be released on their own recognizance. Rather than languish in jail on misdemeanor charges, defendants can return to their families and jobs as their cases move through the system.

There are carve outs that follow best practices to assure public safety. Defendants in custody for bond violations, repeat drunk driving and domestic violence, will be detained for as long as 48 hours as they await hearings. Their risk to the public will be weighed. But here is an important point to remember, cash bail has nothing to do with a person’s risk to the public. It only reflects a person’s ability to pay for a bond.

This new reality does not change the offense, or the possible punishment. Defendants still have to make court appearances, and there are consequences for missing those or being charged with other crimes while released. But it helps ensure equality in the justice system. It means no one will be locked up pretrial simply because they are poor. That is a huge deal. Pretrial detention or release can make all the difference between guilt and innocence as well as recidivism and change, experts have said.

We all have a right to the presumption of innocence, but cash bail and pretrial detention undercut this right. Those who can’t make bond for minor offenses often face an uncomfortable choice: Languish in jail while awaiting trial or plead guilty to be released.

It’s a system that treats the wealthy and the poor differently. Again, we return to the words of Fifth Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement, who portrayed two defendants charged with the same crime, but of different means. One can make bond, but the other cannot.

“As a result, the wealthy arrestee is less likely to plead guilty, more likely to receive a shorter sentence or be acquitted, and less likely to bear the social costs of incarceration,” she wrote. “The poor arrestee, by contrast, must bear the brunt of all of these, simply because he has less money than his wealthy counterpart.”

And so it goes. But it need not. Harris County has proved that.

Change did not come easy. Harris County had to be sued by Civil Rights Corps, and the county then spent millions of dollars fighting that lawsuit. And this monumental change only followed a wave election that resulted in a Democratic Party sweep. But bail reform is neither a Republican nor a Democratic issue. It is a constitutional one.

Harris County judges held numerous meetings with the sheriff and district attorney to develop this plan, which will be submitted to federal court.

Local officials should view this as a template to follow. But will they? We have a new reform-minded district attorney in Joe Gonzales, a sheriff in Javier Salazar who has said he embraces bail reform, a slate of new judges, and a powerful county judge in Nelson Wolff who has been hollering for reform. We have a presiding Municipal Court judge in John Bull who has welcomed the public defender representation at bail hearings.

It should not take a lawsuit to do the right thing, but as Harris County has shown, sometimes it does.