Due Process

Bail Reform Faces Backlash as Policymakers Move To Require Cash Bond for Pre-Trial Defendants

Critics of cash bail say it creates a two-tiered justice system: Those who can pay maintain their freedom, while those unable to pay remain behind bars.

C.J. Ciaramella | From the January 2026 issue

(Illustration: Joanna Andreasson; Source images: iStock)

The long national debate over cash bail reignited in summer 2025 after the White House issued an executive order in August threatening to pull federal funding from jurisdictions that allow cashless bail.

The order channeled criticisms from conservative groups and law enforcement organizations that the bail reforms of the previous decade are allowing repeat offenders to roam free.

"Our great law enforcement officers risk their lives to arrest potentially violent criminals, only to be forced to arrest the same individuals, sometimes for the same crimes, while they await trial on the previous charges," the order stated. "This is a waste of public resources and a threat to public safety."

North Carolina enacted a law in October
2025 that would require cash bail for certain offenses and create a new category of violent crime. Lawmakers were responding to the stabbing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska on a commuter train the previous August. Her alleged killer had a lengthy criminal history and a pending misdemeanor charge.

Texas voters approved a constitutional amendment on last November's ballot banning cash bail for certain violent offenses, and New York Republicans are trying to further roll back the state's divisive 2019 bail reforms, which have already been amended three times.

Forgotten in much of the debate is what bail is supposed to be: a surety or bond to guarantee the defendant, who enjoys the presumption of innocence, won't skip town before trial.