Starting Jan. 1, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office will not request bail for 19 different offenses, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said at a news conference.
These crimes include fifth-degree sale or possession of narcotics, theft of a motor vehicle, forgery, damage to property and identity theft, among others. These efforts to move away from a cash bail system aim to reduce the county’s jail population and to not discriminate against those who cannot afford to pay bail.
Freeman said bail will not be requested for these crimes because they are considered to be low-level, non-dangerous offenses that do not make the defendant a threat to public safety if they remain at home until their court appearance.
However, if the crimes are extreme or if the defendant has other severe outstanding crimes, then the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office may decide to request bail.
“We simply should not punish our citizens before their cases are adjudicated by setting bail, when they are setting a bail they cannot pay, or there’s no reason to think they’re a threat to public safety,” Freeman said. “No one should be punished for being poor, they should be punished if and only if they’re convicted of a crime.”
Freeman added that the majority of individuals who commit the crimes listed are disproportionately members of the Black community. Implementing these changes will reduce the racial disparity of who is kept in the county jail, he said.
Washington County Attorney Pete Orput said he supports the reform measures and plans to implement them in Washington County in the near future. Freeman said he thinks other counties in Minnesota also will enact the changes. Ramsey County is taking similar steps to reform its bail system, and reduce the racial disparities that it can create.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he also supports the reform efforts, and hopes that further changes can continue to be made, possibly at the state Legislature.
Hennepin County also has been taking other steps to reduce the number of people held in jail, such as charging defendants via summons instead of a warrant.
This means that defendants receive their charges by mail and come to their first court appearance themselves instead of having a police officer take them to jail.
The county also has been releasing more people from jail after they are booked in, pending their next court appearance.
“These reforms have helped substantially reduce the number of people held in our jail, even for one night,” Freeman said.
Orput emphasized that requiring fewer people to pay bail does not mean that there will be a threat to public safety.
“Cash bail and public safety are two different animals. They have nothing to do with each other, but they definitely have a disparate impact on who’s in our jail,” Orput said. “It’s grossly unfair. Money has nothing to do with public safety.”
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Minnesota county revamps bail system; officials hope others will follow - Grand Forks Herald
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