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A look at Connecticut’s cash bail system

This is a conversation that’s been talked about amongst state leaders and advocates in Connecticut for many years now, and everyone must be on board for change.

CONNECTICUT, USA — The purpose of bail is to help ensure that a person accused of a crime does not leave town or miss specified trial dates in court. In Connecticut, cash bail still exists, but in other states, like New Jersey and New York, the system is mostly gone.

“I lost my grandmother in 2021. I went to prison in 2016. However, in between those times, I had bonds that were set so high that I could not meet them,” said Marcus Harvin. “There were a few months of me getting sentenced and conviction coming in so I could have had that time.”

He said time to make more memories with his grandmother, but the New Haven man is one of many people who was kept in jail before his trial for a DUI crash without fatality because he couldn’t afford to post bond.

“I was unsentenced for four months I believe and just sitting in jail because my family couldn’t afford that bond,” said Harvin.

According to a report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, more than 60% of defendants are jailed on pretrial because they couldn’t afford bail.

This is a conversation that’s been talked about amongst state leaders and advocates in Connecticut for many years now.

Alex Tsarkov is the executive director of the CT sentencing commission.

They’ve produced several reports on pre-trial justice and bail reform

“The work started for us with a request from Governor Malloy in 2015 who asked us to take a very compressive look at the bail system in Connecticut and other states and make recommendations to the legislator,” said Tsarkov.

Their findings:

“We found that the pretrial justice system in Connecticut is to an extent resource based. Meaning that defendants were being able to get released if they were able to come up with a sum of money for bond,” said Tsarkov.

Criminal justice leaders like Michael Lawlor have been on the front lines trying to change this.

Lawlor led the charge on criminal justice policy for former Gov. Dan Malloy. In 2017, he was one of the people leading the effort to end cash bail in Connecticut.

“There’s a lot of people for whom the amount of bail is relatively low, that you or I or most people watching could easily post with a credit card or they have a job, or they can hire some bail bondsman who can get them out. But there are some people who don’t have access to any resources, and they are on relatively minor charges, on a relatively low bail,” said Lawlor.

He said many end up pleading guilty just so they can go home.

“Many of these people are homeless. They have mental health issues, substance abuse issues, and typically they’ll be sitting in jail for a few months, maybe six months and then the way they get out is by going to court and pleading guilty,” said Lawlor.

But how to change the system for the better is where policy meets politics.

“I think we should copy what New Jersey did,” said Lawlor.

House Republican leader, Vin Candelora said a system should stay in place.

“So if it’s being misused or people are being prevented from being let out of prison and they are stuck, I think we can have that conversation, but I think there are certain crimes and certain activities that process needs to be there to protect our citizens. Getting rid of bail altogether can lead to repeat offenders having access to go right back out in public and repeat crimes again that are violent in nature,” said Candelora

In 2014, New Jersey voted to amend a state constitutional amendment. This largely ended cash bail and transitioned the state to a risk-based pretrial system in 2017.

“We’ve had five or six years now of success. What we’ve seen is dramatic decreases in the pre-trial jail population and that has not come at the price of people showing up in court. People are actually showing up to court in higher rates now than they ever have and it also has not come at the expense of public safety,” said Alexander Shalom with New Jersey ACLU.

Violent crimes involving repeat offenders are prompting questions about bail reform.

Just this month, Governor Lamont, alongside a group of Connecticut mayors and gun violence advocates introduced a new series of proposals that they say will reduce violent crime in the state.

“If this was in place, my last son would not have been killed. He would still be here with us today,” Laquavia Jones who lost two sons to gun violence in New Haven.

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The 10 proposals include actions like:

  • Establishing a definition for "serious firearm offense”
  • Requiring those with a history of past offenses to post a higher bond percentage
  • Strengthening consequences for criminal possession of a firearm.

“Law enforcement officers are very concerned about the fact that repeat, dangerous, violent offenders are able to post bond continuously and get out even though they are being arrested on very serious charges, in some cases even murder. I think that’s a real problem, but it has a real solution, to give judges and prosecutors the authority to hold people without bail,” said Lawlor.

To make this happen, Connecticut’s state constitution must be amended, and everyone must be aboard.

“A lot of the most significant reforms in criminal justice have happened because democrat and republican leaders, came together and came up with language that satisfied both perspectives,” said Lawlor.

But as of right now, there is no end in sight for cash bail here in Connecticut. 

DeAndria Turner is a multi-media journalist at FOX61 News. She can be reached at dturner@fox61.com. 

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