The Pesky Truth About Bail Reform Failures

For over a decade concerned public officials, law enforcement agencies and others have been warning about the slow-motion disaster known as "bail reform." For just as long their concerns and warnings have been ignored by a mainstream media that has collectively drank the bail reform Kool Aid and dismissed concerns about a surge in “failure to appear” cases and crime waves as not being supported by the “facts” or worse, as outright racism. Yet over and over again, as the numbers trickle in, the truth of those warnings is confirmed. And you don’t need to be a cash bail agent to understand what’s happening. Bail reform has failed. Miserably. Nationwide.

The latest bit of evidence of the failure of the anti-bail movement comes in the form of a report from the Harris County Peace Officers Union in Houston. Researchers at the HCPOU took an in-depth look at figures from the 16 misdemeanor courts in Harris County to see if they could verify claims being made by Duke University Law Professor Brandon L. Garrett - appointed to monitor bail reform measures following the 2019 O’Donnell decree that abolished cash bail for most misdemeanor offenses - that overall crime and failure to appear rates had not risen in the wake of the decree.

Neutral Monitor or Anti-Bail Cheerleader?

What the HCPOU study found is alarming yet predictable, and we’ll get into that in a moment. But first, a bit of background on Professor Garrett, the man tasked with monitoring the effects of the O’Donnell decree.

Bail reform has the potential to impact the quality of life of all law-abiding citizens. Therefore, if you are going to ram it through in a way that does not give voters a say in the matter (the O'Donnell decree) the least you can do is appoint someone to monitor the effects who is neither a staunch bail bond company ally nor a cheerleader for the anti-bail cabal. In the case of Professor Garrett, the good people of Harris County got the latter.

Professor Garrett’s entire career to this point has been one of advocacy for accused criminals. He’s the author of no less than 6 books in which he decries the death penalty, declares that the majority of people in prison are innocent, states that most forensic scientists are incompetent, and posits the notion that white collar crime is more a threat to civil order than murder, rape, assault and the like. And this is the supposedly “neutral” observer that was chosen to monitor bail reform in Houston.

Unsurprisingly, given his well-established anti-victim bias, the good professor has declared time and again that bail reform in Harris County has been a major success and we’re all better off for it. Enter the HCPOU report.

Anti-Bail Propaganda Vs Cold, Hard Reality

The stated intention of the O’Donnell decree was to prevent people from being jailed simply because they couldn’t afford to post bail. Rule 9 of the decree states “people charged with most offenses will be released promptly after arrest on a personal bond without having to see a judge”. To anyone whose head is not firmly planted in the ground that statement should raise red flags the size of Texas. For many it did, and they warned of dire consequences, only to be shouted down by a multitude of media talking heads. But according to the HCPOU report, those warning of dire consequences were right. Here are a few key points of the report.

Failure to Appear Rates Skyrocket

Professor Garrett has repeatedly stated that failure to appear rates are basically unchanged since the O’Donnell decree was handed down in 2019. The HCPOU report found the exact opposite to be true. Overall failure to appear rates in Harris County skyrocketed to more than 76%. In Harris County courts 9 and 13 entire weeks went by where the failure to appear rate for people released on personal bond was 100%. And remember, every time someone fails to appear it creates a ripple effect through the criminal justice system.

Dismissals Have Gone Through the Roof

One way to ensure bail reform appears to be working is to not convict anyone who actually shows up for their day in court. That way you can manufacture statistics that seem to show crime is steady, or even down. That’s what’s happening in Harris County. Since bail reform was introduced case dismissals have risen from 26% to 72%.

Where Have All the Savings Gone?

One of the major selling points of the anti-bonding company movement, one of the things that has bought the silence of many members of the public, is the promise of vast savings for local and state governments. The smaller the jail population the less it costs to house and feed them and savings would be passed along to taxpayers. Right. The HCPOU report discovered that the total cost of implementing the O’Donnell decree in Harris County has reached a staggering $100 million.

Conclusion

Was/is the Colorado bail system perfect? No. Was some degree of reform probably necessary to level the field? Absolutely. Was the right approach to kick affordable bail bonds and the entire bail system to the curb? Absolutely not. What has occurred as a result of short-sighted, ego-driven bail reform efforts is nothing short of a travesty. Bail reform is creating an entire generation of fugitives from justice while pounding nail after nail into the coffin of victims' rights. It needs to stop. If it doesn't Denver County, Jefferson County, Golden and other parts of Colorado will follow Houston into the abyss.