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President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday (August 25) aimed at ending "cashless bail," a move experts say will disproportionately affect Black Americans, per the New York Times.
“Cashless bail, we’re ending it,” Trump said, alleging that such policies have hurt public safety. “Any street, all over the country.”
Trump's executive order will effectively increase pretrial detention for low-income defendants, especially Black Americans. Recently enacted reforms in cities like New York and Illinois that have reduced or eliminated bail for nonviolent offenses to prevent people from being jailed solely for being poor are also at risk.
Trump and his conservative allies argue that releasing low-level offenders without bail enables crime, despite the claim being unsupported by data. Studies have found no link between bail reform and increased crime.
Black Americans are already more likely to be held on bail and face higher bail amounts than white defendants facing similar charges. Without the protections of bail reform, experts warn that more Black people could be jailed for minor offenses before trial, risking job loss, housing instability, and coerced guilty pleas.
“The cash bail system has always punished poverty, not crime,” one civil rights advocate said. “Rolling it back only brings us closer to a two-tiered justice system.”
Trump has claimed that people accused of murder are walking free due to cashless bail. However, in nearly all jurisdictions, violent offenders like homicide suspects are not eligible for release without judicial review. In New York City, data from May 2025 shows that less than 1 percent of defendants awaiting trial were rearrested for violent felonies.
The president's executive order sparked backlash from several prominent Democrats, including Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who accused the president of fearmongering.
"This is about distraction, not public safety,” Moore wrote on X.
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