The 2014 state constitutional bail reform amendment relegated cash bail to the last resort to ensure defendants’ appearance at trial. Other methods such as assessing flight and recidivism risks and monitoring were preferred going forward. At the same time the amendment authorized for the first time no-bail “preventive detention” for serious alleged crimes.

The amendment, its implementing legislation, and timely judicial decisions and directives are having a direct, positive effect on the lives of low-income New Jerseans. A judiciary criminal justice reform report for 2020, released Oct. 8, 2021, indicates that there was only 0.2% of the jail population (14 people) incarcerated for inability to pay cash bail of $2,500 or less. The percentage of low-risk defendants incarcerated in 2012 was 12%; in 2018, 4.6%; and in 2019, 2.4%.

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