Editorial: ‘Zero bail’ and release from jail are not the same thing

Violent crime is up in California and around the nation, and many prosecutors, politicians and police officials place the blame — incorrectly — on so-called “zero-bail” policies and other changes to the traditional money bail system. Some trial-level courts, including the Los Angeles County Superior Court, adopted their own COVID emergency bail measures for misdemeanors and low-level felonies that remain in effect, and those programs are also sometimes referred to as “zero bail” — although they are often conflated with the now-expired statewide program. It’s important to remember that people accused of serious and violent crimes are not being released without either paying bail or coming before a judge, just as before. In an entirely separate set of reforms that began well before the pandemic, some counties and courts began studying how to get rid of money bail altogether, permanently, for people accused of lower-level crimes. There’s an additional, and very important, twist: Last year, the state Supreme Court struck down the “common practice of conditioning freedom solely on whether an arrestee can afford bail.” In People vs. Humphrey, the court said alternative conditions of release such as electronic monitoring or drug treatment could generally protect public safety while ensuring the defendant’s appearance at trial.