Detroit cash bail reforms to strike at racial inequality

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Detroit cash bail reforms to strike at racial inequality

By AARON MORRISON
July 12, 2022

Michigan’s largest district court and bail reform advocates have agreed to settle a federal class-action lawsuit over cash bail practices, which activists say routinely and unconstitutionally jail poor and working class defendants despite evidence of their inability to pay.

Both sides say the reforms, to be announced Tuesday, strike at racial inequality in the criminal legal system. On any given day in Detroit, the nation’s Blackest city, nearly three-quarters of those jailed are Black, a proportion much higher than their share of the population.

If the reforms narrow that disparity, it could be a model for court systems nationwide, where race and wealth are significant factors in the administration of justice, advocates say.

Detroit’s 36th District Court, the American Civil Liberties Union and The Bail Project, a nonprofit that pays bail for people in need, said in interviews ahead of Tuesday’s announcement that the status quo wreaks unnecessary havoc on defendants’ jobs, homes and families.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/lawsuits-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-michigan-detroit-76a38e8bd1c0432103068d0837aa2a0b

[MichMan]

1. Over 80% of the Detroit population is Black.

Last edited Tue Jul 12, 2022, 10:11 AM - Edit history (1)

"On any given day in Detroit, the nation’s Blackest city, nearly three-quarters of those jailed are Black, a proportion much higher than their share of the population."

Does the author seriously believe that in a city that is 80% Black, if the incarceration rate doesn't match the state wide Black population of 13%, that therefore proves racism?

Bail reform is certainly something that can be discussed, but the statistics don't appear to mean what the author claim they do. Crime rates are pretty high as well, and residents want more policing, not less.

[marmar]

2. What does more policing have to do with bail reform?

People want a fair system.

[MichMan]

3. The original premise was so absurd, the rest was meaningless

The author apparently believes that since only 13% of the state population is Black, that the Black incarceration rate in Detroit should match that percentage,and proposes bail reform is the method for achieving that goal.

Using that "logic" 75% of the incarcerated in Detroit should be white, even though the city is 80% Black.

Detroit is an 80% Black city, and nearly every elected official, prosecutor, and judge are also Black. Making bail reform in Detroit about race is disingenuous and insulting. If the impetus behind bail reform is poverty, then make that the focus, not race.