No Cash Bail Headers 

 

Los Angeles County is now operating under a No Cash Bail system, formally known in legal circles as Pre-Arraignment Release Protocols (PARP). The system prohibits monetary bail for almost all misdemeanors and some felonies.

While this new system is well-intentioned, with the hope of creating greater equity in our justice system, in reality, it is an untested scheme that puts LA County residents and business owners in the middle of a public safety experiment, with the potential for significant public safety and civic impacts, few alternatives for law enforcement and no options for victims, implemented without public review or input. No Cash Bail severely impacts our police department resources, limits the availability of individualized release decisions, and lumps career and chronic criminals in with first-time offenders.

This is why a coalition of 29 diverse cities throughout Los Angeles County have filed an injunction to pause or restrict No Cash Bail until bona fide research can be done to assess the program’s impacts and our communities have an opportunity to provide input since residents will be directly impacted if this untested program goes awry.

Cities that have signed onto the injunction:

City of Arcadia
 City of Industry
 City of Rosemead
City of Artesia
 City of Irwindale
 City of San Dimas
City of Azusa
 City of La Mirada
 City of Santa Clarita
City of Baldwin Park
 City of Lakewood
 City of Santa Fe Springs
City of Beverly Hills
 City of Lancaster City of Santa Monica
City of Cerritos
 City of La Verne
 City of Torrance
City Covina
 City of Manhattan Beach
 City of Vernon
City of Downey City of Norwalk
 City of West Covina
City of Duarte City of Palmdale
 City of Whittier
City of Glendora
 City of Paramount   

 

Key Concerns:

Safety:

  • Under the No Cash Bail system where people detained for committing crimes are released without bail pending trial, police departments are, in some cases, arresting the same individual multiple times in one night for repeated offenses. Not only does this affect public safety in our communities, it significantly strains police resources.
  • LA County Superior Court reports that 85% of individuals released under the No Cash Bail schedule are low-risk, but the definition of low-risk offenses includes violations such as burglary and drug dealing, which are not victimless crimes.*
  • The Court’s own statistics show that as many as 20% of individuals released under No Cash Bail go on to commit violent crimes during their pretrial period.**

*Pre-Arraignment Release Protocols Preliminary Report, Los Angeles County Superior Court, October 30, 2023
**Pretrial Risk Assessment Tool Validation from Pretrial Pilot Program by the Judicial Council of California, September 2022

Community Input:

  • Most governments are required to complete extensive community outreach and citizen input sessions before building new roads or sidewalks. Yet, for a program that will fundamentally change our judicial system and potentially impact our public safety, there was little to no input from the affected communities or their local government representatives.

Financial Burden:

  • There is virtually no data demonstrating No Cash Bail achieves equity or supports public safety. In fact, history has demonstrated that every time there is a loosening of criminal justice standards without a full system review of impacts and costs, the funding burden lands on the backs of cities and local police agencies.
  • The No Cash Bail system puts financial strain on local police departments, which need to increase staffing to manage repeat offenders.
  • The No Cash Bail system increases costs to cities for public safety, graffiti remediation, and similar vandalism restoration efforts.

Call to Action