US

Suspects Released On ‘Zero Dollar’ Bail Were Much More Likely To Be Rearrested, Study Finds

No featured image available

An updated study by the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office released earlier this month found that those released on $0 bail were 70% more likely to be rearrested than their cohorts who posted bail.

Last year, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office conducted a study of 595 individuals released without bail in Yolo County. finding that 70% of those released without bail were rearrested. An update to that study found that not only did the majority of those released without bail get rearrested, but those released without bail were actually more likely to be rearrested than those who did post bail.

The updated study used a random sample of 100 arrested individuals released without bail and 100 arrested individuals who posted bail between 2018 or 2019. Offender demographics and original offenses were similar in both groups.

After 18 months, 78% of those released without bail were rearrested for a new crime, compared to 46% of those who paid bail. Furthermore, those released on $0 bail were more likely to be arrested for serious crimes.

Specifically, those released without bail were three times as likely to be arrested for violent crimes and twice as likely to be arrested for felonies. They were also 148% more likely to be arrested multiple times when compared to the cohort that posted bail.

The study was widely used as a rationale to kill a bill in California that would initiate $0 bail, according to CBS Sacramento.

“We would conclude the results have a very strong statistical significance,” said Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at American River College, Matt Mitchell, according to CBS Sacramento. “In short, the sampling was performed without bias.”

Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig, whose office compiled the data for this study, is not using it as a reason to dismiss bail reform but rather to study the effects of automatically releasing individuals without consideration of criminal history or risk.

My office just completed a study on the comparative impacts of court-ordered Zero Bail ($0 Bail) over a 13 month period in my county. The results were staggering. Zero bail releases resulted in 163% more crime and 200% more violent crime when compared to https://t.co/dJOEVwHcfY… https://t.co/kWrZOtKwLK pic.twitter.com/3KpqW9aPgv

— Jeff Reisig (@jeffreisig) February 14, 2023

“The whole point of this study is not to debate the merits of some type of bail reform. It’s to look at the issue of zero bail where people are being automatically released,” said Reisig. “I actually do support smart bail reform. One-hundred percent. Zero-dollar bail is not smart bail reform, and it’s resulted in people being killed.”

District Attorney Jeff Reisig’s office did not immediately return the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.