From Pretrial Justice Institute:
01: WHAT IF… we all committed to ending mass incarceration and advancing equity?
To envision pretrial justice without money bond or risk assessment,
the first question you and your local partners must wrestle with
is what culture you are trying to create, and what values you wish
to embody. Even if onerous conditions, money bonds, or preventive
detention are available by statute, your courts can maximize liberty
by choosing to limit their use. When local partners are committed to
a culture where the presumption of innocence is paramount—and you
create a system that defaults to liberty—then there’s no need to label
people as “risky” in order to assign limits on their freedom.
Similarly, when partners are committed to equity, you feel a sense
of urgency to dismantle practices rooted in historical oppression and
build systems that meet the needs of everyone in the community;
systems that will look very different than what you have today.
To change local culture, the partners at your table will also need to
change. The adoption of RAIs most often happens as an agreement
amongst people with formal system authority, to the exclusion of
community advocates and those with lived experience in the system.
Setting a new table where community members also have power
will shift the perspective on what safety and liberty mean, as well
as offering creative solutions for how to achieve them. Because
community voices are diverse, the new world will reflect local values,
needs, and priorities. There’s not an “ideal” model that will work
everywhere, and your solutions will be unique to your community.
Continue reading here.
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