In a functioning criminal justice system, personal responsibility is the foundation: break the law and face predictable, uniform consequences regardless of income or identity. Yet widespread cashless bail policies and reforms, and expanded pretrial release policies in states like New York, California, and Illinois are dismantling that principle. In a recent article, Eric Granof, writes how bail reform efforts which are sold as ending “wealth-based detention” have instead produced the opposite, a two-tiered system in which certain defendants, often those meeting socioeconomic or offense-category criteria, receive presumptive release with little or no conditions, while others face the full weight of enforcement. The result is diminished accountability, weakened deterrence, and growing public frustration as the system increasingly hands out what critics call “get-out-of-jail-free” cards to repeat offenders.

New York’s 2019 bail reform law, which eliminated cash bail and mandated pretrial release for most misdemeanors and many nonviolent felonies, offers a clear case study. Data shows sharp increases in re-arrest rates among high-risk individuals released under these policies. In California, studies comparing suspects released under “zero bail” to those who posted cash bail found the cashless group was rearrested on 163% more charges and committed violent crimes at dramatically higher rates. These pretrial release changes are now extending beyond serious crimes into everyday enforcement, including traffic violations, where ability-to-pay schemes and income-based fine reductions create a separate, more lenient standard for some drivers.

Ultimately, these equity-driven bail reform policies prioritize demographic outcomes over behavior and risk, eroding the core idea that actions have consequences. When cashless bail and lenient pretrial release become the default for favored groups, deterrence collapses, recidivism rises, and public trust in equal justice under law collapses. Restoring one standard of accountability — risk-based decisions applied uniformly — is essential before the two-tiered system expands further. An excerpt from the article as well as a link to the full article are below.

Eroding Accountability: How Bail Reform is Creating a Two-Tiered Justice System

By Eric Granof

Ability-to-pay schemes and equity-driven policies are not making the justice system better but are instead creating a system where some groups of people can commit crimes and other groups can’t.

In a functioning criminal justice system, personal responsibility is the bedrock. Break the law, whether by committing a violent crime or running a red light and you face consequences that are predictable, proportionate and applied equally to everyone. That principle underpins the rule of law: your actions determine your outcomes, not your income, zip code or demographic profile. READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE>>>