Thursday, April 16, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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When the Nevada Supreme Court handed down new guidelines last week on the use of cash bail in the state’s courts, Nevadans may have been too focused on the COVID-19 outbreak to have paid much attention to it.
But make no mistake, the court’s action was big news — it reforms a system that has disadvantaged low-income Nevadans and members of minority communities.
Ruling on a case involving bail for two Clark County criminal defendants accused of property crimes (to which both have since accepted plea deals), the justices concluded on a 6-1 vote that cash bail should be set only if “necessary to reasonably ensure the defendant’s appearance at court proceedings or to protect the community, including the victim and the victim’s family.”
The court also laid out a three-step process for determining whether cash bail is appropriate, dialing up the responsibilities of prosecutors and judges to justify using the monetary system.
The ruling is likely to result in more defendants — particularly those facing lower-level offenses — being allowed to remain free on their own recognizance while their cases proceed through the courts.
But at the same time, the new system allows for cash bail to remain solidly in place for those charged with violent crimes and present a danger to the community, or who pose a flight risk. Nor is it a “get out of jail free” card, as defendants who are released on their own recognizance will still face consequences if they fail to show up for hearings.
This a long-overdue reform. In Nevada and across the country, indiscriminate use of cash bail has filled jails with people who didn’t deserve to be clapped behind bars for extended periods. It became a trap for low-income people who might go to jail for minor offenses, or even traffic citations, and then face increasingly serious crimes and more jail time simply because of their inability to pay bail, fines, fees, etc.
Statistical studies of the monetary system show it not only disadvantages the poor but also minorities, whom judges, when setting bail, tend to treat more harshly than whites. That’s particularly the case for African-American offenders.
As Justice James Hardesty wrote in the majority opinion: “Bail serves the important function of allowing a defendant to be released pending trial while at the same time ensuring that he or she will appear at future proceedings and will not pose a danger to the community. When bail is set in an amount the defendant cannot afford, however, it deprives the defendant of his or her liberty and all its attendant benefits, despite the fact that he or she has not been convicted and is presumed innocent.”
The court’s new standards on bail fit perfectly with the package of justice reforms adopted by Nevada lawmakers last year, which focused on reducing penalties for nonviolent crimes and boosting diversion and treatment programs. Those measures included setting new thresholds for felony drug and burglary offenses, for instance: 100 grams for a felony drug trafficking conviction (up from just 4 grams) and $1,200 in stolen goods (up from $650).
The Nevada Supreme Court’s bail ruling is another step in the right direction in a state which, going into 2019, had an unusually high incarceration rate despite an overall decline in crime.
Efforts to keep low-level, nonviolent offenders out of the state’s prisons and jail benefit all Nevadans. Offenders who remain in their communities can work, provide for their families and pay taxes while their cases go through the system and as they pay their debt to society.
When people are locked up for minor crimes, on the other hand, taxpayers shoulder the bill for their incarceration and face additional social costs down the road. These offenders face higher risks of recidivism, and their families face an additional economic burden that can increase their reliance on social services.
The new bail guidelines strike a balance between public safety and justice. They’ll make Nevada a fairer and better place.
