Criminal justice advocates warn that President Donald Trump’s executive orders aimed at ending cashless bail policies will disproportionately impact low-income communities.
Black and brown people, who are overrepresented in the criminal justice system, will suffer the most, they say. Black Americans are already over 25% more likely to be held in jail pretrial with bail than white people facing similar charges, according to a report by the Prison Policy Initiative.
Trump signed two executive orders Monday as part of his administration’s stated effort to reduce crime in the nation’s capital. The orders also came two weeks into the administration’s federal takeover.
Following Trump’s latest move, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser defended the city’s approach to public safety, pointing to an emergency crime bill passed in June 2024 that, in part, expanded the list of offenses that would be ineligible for pretrial detention, and has reduced crime in the district.
“It, I frankly think, has worked better than any system,” Bowser said at Monday’s press conference in response to Trump’s latest round of executive orders.
Under cashless bail systems, individuals accused of misdemeanors, violations, or low-level felonies may be released without paying money. Instead, law enforcement or prosecutors use risk assessment tools — which consider factors like criminal history, offense severity, and likelihood of appearing in court — to help judges decide whether a person is eligible for release.
“Cashless bail is a disaster,” Trump said during Monday’s press conference. “It’s been a horrible thing for crime, especially violent crime.”
A 2024 study by the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law found no statistically significant link between bail reform and crime rates. The researchers compared crime trends in 22 cities that implemented some form of bail reform with 11 cities that did not.
Multiple criminal justice advocacy nonprofit organizations, including the ACLU, the Vera Institute of Justice, and the Advancement Project, denounced the administration’s assessment of Washington’s cashless bail system, which has been a nationally recognized model since 1992.
“There is no public safety crisis here, only a political one. This executive order is not about crime, it’s about control,” wrote Clinique Chapman, CEO of the D.C. Justice Lab, in an emailed statement to Capital B. “Replacing our system with a money-based model would mean jailing people simply because they’re poor. Once again, it’s DC’s Black residents that will pay the price.”
How will Trump’s executive orders to end cashless bail affect Black communities in the nation’s capital, and what are the potential ripple effects to other cities and states?
What are Trump’s executive orders on cashless bail?
Trump issued two executive orders on Aug. 25 addressing cashless bail systems. The first threatens to withhold federal funding from jurisdictions — like Washington, D.C., California, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, and New York — that rely on risk assessment tools rather than a person’s ability to pay for release.
Judges still have discretion and may still detain individuals, set cash bail, or a secure bond if they are deemed a flight risk or a threat to public safety. A secure bail bond requires an individual or a loved one to pay money or provide collateral — often through a private bail bond company — to secure release from jail before trial. If the charged individual appears in court as required, the collateral may be returned, but fees paid to the bond company are typically non-refundable.
It’s more an incentive for those accused of a crime to return to court because they don’t want their family’s home to get taken away if they skipped town, said Michelle Esquenazi, president and founder of the New York State Bail Association.
The other executive order directs law enforcement to pursue federal charges that allow individuals to be held in pretrial detention without the option of release — effectively bypassing local judges’ discretion to grant release without cash bail. According to The New York Times, before Trump signed the order on Aug. 25, federal prosecutors had already begun charging individuals in the district with minor offenses, such as open container violations and vandalism, to detain them pretrial.
Can the federal government override local bail laws?
“We’re ending it, but we’re starting by ending it in D.C., and that we have the right to do through federalization,” Trump said.
While legal experts say it’s unclear whether the federal government can constitutionally override local bail laws — particularly in cities like Chicago, New York, and Baltimore, which set their own policies — the federal government cannot do so directly. Instead, it may apply political or financial pressure, though such efforts would likely face legal challenges over states’ rights.
Insha Rahman, vice president of advocacy and partnerships at the Vera Institute of Justice, noted that many of those targeted areas by this administration are led by Democratic, mostly Black leaders, who have opposed Trump’s efforts.
“Cities and states should be ready with a plan of action to challenge these unconstitutional actions — this overreach — in court,” she said while highlighting mayors of Baltimore, Boston, and Oakland, California, as well as Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Trump has indicated that Chicago may be the next city where his administration deploys federal forces. In response, the city’s mayor noted that Chicago — home to one of the largest Black populations in the U.S. — has seen a significant drop in violent crime, including a more than 30% decrease in homicides. And Pritzker told Trump: “Don’t come to Chicago.”
Similarly, Washington’s police department has reported sharp declines in crime across several categories, but that did not stop the district’s 30-day takeover.
Rahman emphasizes that Trump’s actions this term, including cuts to health care, food assistance, and jobs programs, actually undermine safety rather than improve it.
How does cash bail hurt Black communities?
Black people are more often assigned bail — and at higher amounts — than white people, the American Bar Association reports. Nearly 60% of people who are incarcerated for three days can experience job loss or must change jobs, a federal probation report from 2018 found. The report also found that, during just three days in jail, some individuals lost custody of their children or were evicted from public housing, which often prohibits residents with a criminal record.
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that while the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution protects against excessive bail, it does not guarantee a right to it in all cases.
In addition to targeting Washington’s long-standing cashless bail regime, Trump’s executive order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to compile a list — within 30 days — of states and local jurisdictions that have substantially eliminated cash bail for crimes “that pose a clear threat to public safety and order,” including violent, sexual, indecency, burglary, looting, and vandalism offenses.
Earlier this month, Bondi released a list of 35 jurisdictions — states, counties, and cities — labeled as “sanctuary jurisdictions.” These places, which limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, were warned they could face legal action or lose federal funding if they did not comply. Some locations on this list may appear on Bondi’s impending cashless bail list.
What does the cashless bail policy have to do with federal funding?
Trump expressed frustration with Washington’s cashless bail system that, in his view, releases too many individuals instead of holding them in federal custody. Police activity in the district has faced increased scrutiny since he issued an executive order directing federal agents and local officers to crack down on crime — despite the city recently reaching a 30-year low in violent crime.
Esquenazi, who is also president of the National Association of Bail Agents, said this administration has been doing a deep dive on how federal funds such as those from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, named after a slain New York Police Department officer, have been allocated locally.
“What they’re deciding to do is shut down the federal gush of money to the states so that they will stop using that money to fund these programs,” Esquenazi said in a phone interview with Capital B. “Essentially, what happens is an offender is arrested by the state, prosecuted by the state, and then released free by the state, so these offenders are not particularly impacted. There’s no essential consequence to any of it.”
Rahman said those federal grants aren’t that substantial, and there’s “a community safety benefit to these pretrial services programs.”
“These pretrial services programs remind people to come back to court. People are coming back to court,” Rahman said. “The court experience rates improve, and they provide the connection to services, mental health, drug treatment, job training opportunities that actually help to prevent and break the cycle of crime.”