{"content":[{"text":"Opinion Analysis: In re Humphrey \n (S247278)","bbox":{"left":0.069477,"top":0.060245,"width":0.8610359999999999,"height":0.09107300000000002}},{"text":"Overview","bbox":{"left":0.069477,"top":0.175184,"width":0.10068600000000001,"height":0.020025000000000015}},{"text":"On March 25, 2021, the California Supreme Court handed down its long-awaited \n decision in In re Humphrey (S247278). The case presented two key questions \n concerning bail: whether cash bail is unconstitutional, and how to resolve two \n apparently conflicting California constitutional provisions concerning bail. The \n decision answered the first question, and demurred on the second:","bbox":{"left":0.069477,"top":0.217888,"width":0.861004,"height":0.12211400000000003}},{"text":"The court held that pretrial detention based solely on a person’s inability to \n pay is unconstitutional. Because liberty is the norm in the criminal justice \n system, there is a fundamental right to bail, and bail may be denied only in \n narrow and unusual circumstances. Yet Humphrey does not categorically \n hold money bail to be unconstitutional — so money bail may be set, but it \n must be set at an amount within the defendant’s means. This precludes the \n traditional court practice of relying solely on a county bail schedule to set a \n fixed bail amount. \n The grant of review included the apparent conflict between the California \n constitution’s two bail provisions: article I, section 12 and article I, section \n 28. But Humphrey declined to expressly address the standards for an order \n denying bail, leaving open questions about how courts should reconcile \n those provisions. The court’s reasoning does, however, suggest that section \n 12 alone controls bail denials.","bbox":{"left":0.149134,"top":0.362774,"width":0.781392,"height":0.35222800000000004}},{"text":"It is now clear that when setting bail, courts must consider the defendant’s \n individual circumstances and financial situation, and that non-financial conditions of \n release should be favored over financial conditions. To assist judges in setting bail, \n we propose a three-step process that accounts for how Humphrey affects the \n analysis.","bbox":{"left":0.069477,"top":0.734876,"width":0.8610479999999999,"height":0.12211500000000008}},{"text":"Analysis","bbox":{"left":0.069477,"top":0.879673,"width":0.09164000000000001,"height":0.02002499999999996}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}