MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In August 2022, Shelby County Commissioners passed a resolution to create a new bail process in the county, and on February 15.
According to the Shelby County District Attorney’s office, the new system will include a new bail hearing courtroom where people will receive a hearing with counsel no later than 72 hours after their arrest.
When it comes to a judge setting bail, the new system will analyze someone’s finances and their ability to pay bail in the first place.
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said the prior system often disproportionately left people of color and in poverty in jail, waiting for their court date. This is a common trend in America according to the Prison Policy Initiative, around 75% of the people in America in jails have not been convicted of crimes, some just can not afford to pay the bail set for them.
“It’s harder on the poor, it’s harder on minorities, this is an attempt to fix that,” said Mulroy.
Memphis lawyer Michael Working said the new system is a major step forward in decriminalizing poverty.
“Under the old system, a judicial commissioner would make an off the top of their head determination about bail, and it was often unaffordable, and then people would languish behind the bars at 201 Poplar, and sometimes even years,” said Mulroy.
The reformed bail system could allow people to get out of jail pretrial much faster than they used to, depending on whether or not they pose a danger to the community.
“Is this person a danger to the community, or is there a significant risk that they will flee the jurisdiction? If so, we keep them locked up until trial, but if not, we need to set a bail amount that they can actually afford,” said Mulroy.
The change has not been met by support from all parties, several bond agencies in Memphis have discussed their worry about the new bail program.
Kimberly Charles from All in One Bonding and Insurance said in a statement:
“The new bail system doesn’t really hold people accountable to make sure they’ll do what they’re supposed to as far as returning to court and getting their cases resolved. In my opinion it’s unfair to victims to have people released without recourse, and could lead to people becoming repeat offenders due to the jail being a revolving door.”
Mulroy said there is no need to worry, and adds a study done by the Prison Policy Initiative showed nine cities and counties with similar bail reforms did not notice a significant increase in crimes.
“There have been studies around the country about before and after these types of reforms have been implemented, and there has been no significant increase, violent or otherwise,” said Mulroy.
The speed of the new bail system could come with some added benefits according to Mulroy. Over the course of the pandemic, the county accrued a backlog of cases after normal operations at courts were halted.
“The health department would not let judges hold jury trials or put jurors in the same room or in close quarters during the pandemic, so by not having jury trials, we got quite backed up,” said Michael Working, Former President of Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.