Proposition 25 – Switch Cash Bail with System Based On “Public Safety Risk”

Cash bail, a horrific system that keeps people in jail only because they are poor and keeps many Black and brown people locked up, needs to end. However, this initiative puts forward a solution that would replace the cash bail system with one that applies a “risk assessment,” an algorithm that attempts to forecast whether someone is likely to end up back in jail and which is likely to reinforce the racial disparities in our jails. The “risk assessment” also puts more power in judges’ hands to keep people locked up away from their families while awaiting trial.

Bay Rising Action has allies and partners on both sides of this issue: those who think that ending cash bail is the highest priority, and those who think the new system will have damaging consequences that will be harder to undo. Bay Rising Action is neutral on Prop 25.