Dear New Solutions Campaign Supporters, Please be advised, this morning the Supreme Court released the report of the Joint Committee on Criminal Justice calling for significant changes to the current bail system in New Jersey and enactment of speedy trial legislation. This report is a major milestone in our efforts to reform NJ’s bail system. The Committee made several overriding bail reform recommendations, including: · A shift to a system in which pretrial release decisions are based on risk, not resources · The use of an objective risk assessment on all defendants housed in jail pretrial · Establishment of nonmonetary conditions of release that correspond to a defendant’s risk level · Appropriate supervision by pretrial services officers of defendants who are released · Development of a mechanism for effective enforcement of noncompliance with release conditions · A constitutional amendment allowing for preventative detention of dangerous defendants · Adequate funding to properly implement all improvements The report is a major step forward to remedying the problems outlined in a state jail population analysis released last year, which found that nearly forty percent of individuals incarcerated in county jails are there solely because they cannot afford their often nominal bail amounts. The recommendations in the report echo the changes to the bail system that the coalition is supporting through advocacy for Assembly Bill 1910 / Senate Bill 946, which is currently pending before the Judiciary Committee in each House. As a reminder, this bill moves New Jersey away from a resource-based system to one reliant on risk by prioritizing nonmonetary conditions of release, requiring all defendants to undergo a risk assessment before their initial bail hearing, establishing pretrial services agencies to supervise and monitor those release, and permitting the absolute detention of truly dangerous individuals. I will continue to keep you updated on how you can help ensure New Jersey’s broken bail system is reformed in a comprehensive manner that creates a system providing true justice and protecting public safety! Best, Meagan Meagan Glaser, MPAP | Deputy State Director, New Jersey Drug Policy Alliance 16 West Front Street, Suite 101A | Trenton, NJ 08608 Voice: 609.396.8613 | Fax: 609.396.9478 drugpolicy.org
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 13:19:41 +0000