He points to the case of Kareem Dawson, who was arrested on domestic violence charges and released without bail twice last year in New Jersey. In February, Dawson murdered his girlfriend and then killed himself after a police chase.
“Because of bail reform, he was out on the street,” says Stewart. “If a judge had set bail, he wouldn’t have been able to pay and would have been in jail instead of out murdering this woman.”
But reform advocates argue that those cases are uncommon. They say that most people released without bail aren’t arrested again and come to court to see their cases through.
“The public safety argument is ridiculous,” says Karakatsanis, the civil rights attorney. “Most people that can’t afford bail aren’t violent criminals— they’re simply poor.”
After Maranda ODonnell’s arrest for the expired license, she filed a lawsuit against Harris County, Texas, where Houston is located. In April 2017, a federal judge decided the county’s bail system was unconstitutional on the grounds that it treated poor and wealthy defendants differently, in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
In February, a federal appeals court upheld the ruling, and experts predict the decision will encourage more challenges to the nation’s bail systems.
“There’s momentum throughout the country heading in the direction of major change,” says Gouldin, the Syracuse University law professor. “This wave of bail reform is going to continue, whether it’s through new legislation or lawsuits.”