A bill in the Ohio House would attempt to reform the jail system by basing bail off of a person鈥檚 risk to society rather than how much money they have. The ACLU likes the idea but says more should be done to stave off any bias.
Liberal and conservative groups both want changes in the criminal justice system. But when it comes to a new attempt to change the way bail is determined, the ACLU isn鈥檛 quite on board.
The bill would attach bail to risk, the lower a person鈥檚 risk, the lower the bail.
鈥淏ut it could just bless the disparities that are already going on.鈥�
The ACLU鈥檚 Mike Brickner says, for example, people who fail to appear in court for past offenses earn a higher risk assessment.
鈥淲hen you look at the number of fail to appears, you鈥檒l see more people of color, more low income people skewing that number.鈥�
Brickner suggests having a list of lower level crimes that are pre-determined to not require bail, unless a prosecutor argues otherwise.
