No Rollbacks on Bail Reform

Act Now

Politicians are trying to roll back progress on bail reform and return to policies that have exacerbated racial disparities in our state's prisons and jails, fueled decades of mass incarceration, and irreparably harmed New Jersey families and communities – all without improving public safety.

Until the passage of the Criminal Justice Reform Act (CJRA) in 2017, New Jersey used the size of a person's wallet to decide whether they would be free or stay in jail until their trial. Tell lawmakers: New Jersey cannot afford to return to policies that fail to make us safer while disproportionately harming Black and brown communities.

Message recipients:
Senate President Nicholas Scutari
Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin
Your State Senator
Your State Assembly Member

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Subject

Despite the resounding success of the Criminal Justice Reform Act (CJRA), opponents of the current pretrial system continue to make efforts to roll back the reform with little or no data supporting their claims.

We must continue moving forward by relying on data and evidence for policy decisions on public safety – not rolling back the most significant improvement made to the criminal legal system in the last several decades.

We call on all NJ lawmakers to oppose efforts to roll back bail reform and ensure that any potential changes to the bail system are rooted in NJ-specific data that demonstrates a need for such a change.

Message Body

The Criminal Justice Reform Act, which passed in 2017 with bi-partisan support under Republican Governor Chris Christie, eliminated the long-standing reliance on money bail, which used the size of a person's wallet to determine whether they would be free or in jail until their trial, regardless of the seriousness of the offense. Today, instead of cash bail, determinations regarding whether a defendant should be released or detained pre-trial are made by judges who hear arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys and are informed by a risk-assessment that measures whether a defendant poses a substantial risk to public safety or of not returning for their trial. The system assumes that most people – who are presumed innocent – can be released prior to trial. And the system is working.

People are showing up in court at higher rates than ever before. The rate of people being released and going on to commit serious violent crimes remains around one percent. Those gains have been achieved while the pretrial jail population – the number of people presumed innocent kept from the jobs, their families, and their communities – has dropped. New Jersey's bail reform law is a national model and the envy of states around the country.

This does not mean that the Criminal Justice Reform Act is perfect or not subject to periodic review. But despite the data showing positive outcomes from the CJRA, some lawmakers and law enforcement representatives continue to spread misinformation and attempt to tie any upticks in particular crimes, especially auto theft, to bail reform, even in situations where bail reform is not implicated at all. To do so, of course, requires them to ignore that while auto thefts have increased in the last several years, crimes rates for murder, rape, robbery, larceny, and burglary have all decreased. New Jersey should look for solutions to auto theft, but the focus on bail reform is a distraction.

New Jersey lawmakers must:

•	Oppose efforts to hastily roll back the core provisions of the Criminal Justice Reform Act that have successfully led to reductions in unnecessary jailing without compromising public safety.

•	Ensure that any changes to the Criminal Justice Reform Act follow a deliberative process that includes all stakeholders and are rooted in data that indicates the proposed changes would actually address the underlying issue.

Bail reform works. New Jersey cannot afford to return to policies that appear tough on crime that fail to make us safer, disproportionately impact communities of color, increases the number of New Jerseyans incarcerated, and undermines fairness. Thank you for taking action to protect the Criminal Justice Reform Act. We must continue moving forward and not roll back the significant improvements made to the criminal legal system in the last decade.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]

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No Rollbacks on Bail Reform

Act Now

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