Pew Finds Majority of Americans Support Expanded Pretrial Release

The latest national opinion poll conducted by The Pew Charitable Trusts is a clear indication of the American public’s deep dissatisfaction with our current jail practices and appetite for bail reform.

The findings illustrate that most Americans do not believe money bail makes communities safer. Rather, they believe that we should honor the bedrock principle of presumed innocence and release most individuals until they have their day in court. For those few who should be held pending a detention hearing, the proceeding must occur as soon as possible.

These findings underscore the national consensus around the need to reduce unnecessary and unjust pretrial detention — a core goal of the pretrial portfolio at LJAF. We commend our colleagues at Pew for their commitment to pretrial reform and look forward to continued partnership with them in this work.