Roosevelt Institute | Cornell University

The Broken Bail System

By Samantha Lustig Published November 5, 2017

If you were to get arrested today, your path through the criminal justice system would be heavily determined by your financial situation. Whether or not you'll spend the next few days or weeks in jail depends completely on your ability to post bail. Thousands of people every year are criminalized for their inability to pay these fees, unfairly trapping America's poorest citizens in the prison system.