00:00President Trump's crackdown on crime is now going after cashless bail.
00:05Today, the president signed an executive order that threatens to pull federal funding from cities that don't eliminate such policies.
00:12Among those cities is the nation's capital.
00:17One of the executive orders has to do with cashless bail.
00:21That was when the big crime in this country started.
00:24And I can tell you who did it, when, but I don't want to do that.
00:30Because others followed pretty quickly.
00:32But that was when it happened.
00:34Somebody kills somebody, they go in, don't worry about it, no cash, come back in a couple of months, we'll give you a trial.
00:39You never see the person again.
00:40And this isn't Republican, Democrat.
00:42This is, and by the way, most Democrats agree with us.
00:45But this is just, we got to bring our country back.
00:49Let's talk about this with civil rights attorney Robin Sanders, who was a federal public defender.
00:54Robin, Trump says cashless bail, that was when the big crime in this country started.
01:00They'd kill someone and get out.
01:01Can you tell us how cashless bail impacts crime?
01:09Sure.
01:10So I think it's important for your viewers to understand that cashless bail, also known as no cash bail,
01:15is a system where judges will allow individuals to be released before trial
01:19and not condition that on their ability to pay a sum of money.
01:23And what typically happens is that the judge will engage in a risk assessment analysis
01:28and look at various factors like whether the person poses a flight risk
01:32or whether they are a danger to the community before determining if they should be released before trial.
01:38And the impetus for this is rooted in civil rights concerns, Brianna.
01:42Proponents of this policy say that if you don't have it in existence,
01:46what you'd have is a two-tiered system where wealthy individuals who are charged with the same offense
01:51will be able to be released pretrial, but indigent individuals in this country,
01:56disproportionately African Americans and people of color,
01:58would have to remain in prison or in jail before their trial.
02:02So under threat of losing federal funding, we've seen many entities and jurisdictions
02:07enacting policies that otherwise they would not enact.
02:11Do you expect this to work?
02:12And if so, what's the effect of that going to be?
02:17So I think that it's important to understand that part of the order is national in scope.
02:22So it authorizes the U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to identify jurisdictions that implement this policy
02:28and see whether or not there are federal funding streams that could be withheld
02:32or revoked, and then, of course, targeting D.C. specifically.
02:36And essentially, that would allow the police to preferentially charge suspects under federal law,
02:42thereby bypassing that procedure.
02:43So I think what we will need to look at is to see whether states or jurisdictions
02:48will comply with the order, you know, in order to prevent themselves from losing federal funding.
02:55So I know you come at this from a defender's perspective,
02:59and you have a lot of experience with a number of cases,
03:02but you also know that there are people who are incredibly worried about crime and public safety,
03:08even as we, for instance, in D.C. have seen numbers go down recently.
03:11The administration is certainly playing to those concerns.
03:15How should those concerns be addressed?
03:20So I think it's important for people to understand that even in places where cashless bails,
03:26the system is being implemented and used, judges are still required to engage in a risk assessment analysis.
03:33So in addition to determining whether someone is a flight risk,
03:37judges also look to see whether the individual does pose a significant threat or danger to the community
03:43before making a decision about whether they would be released pretrial.
03:47So it's important for people to understand that even in jurisdictions where this system is adopted,
03:53judges are still tasked with making sure that the individual
03:56who is wanting the benefit of the cashless bail policy doesn't pose a significant risk or danger to the community.
04:03And if they are determined to pose that risk,
04:05then the judge will consign them to jail as they await their trial proceeding.
04:10So it's a factor that judges consider.
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