What are bail funds? Two social policy experts explain

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https://theconversation.com/what-are-bail-funds-two-social-policy-experts-explain-182631

When someone charged with a crime is eligible for release but cannot afford cash bail, they typically will remain in jail until they are sentenced or released – unless someone makes a payment on their behalf.

One option is to enlist the help of a private bail bondsman to pay the court the cash used as a guarantee that a defendant will return for a hearing. But bail bondsmen charge steep fees, and many engage in abusive, or even criminal, practices.

Bail funds, which pool money from donors to pay bail for people who can’t afford it, are a better option.

These funds can be relatively large. The Minnesota Freedom Fund received over US$30 million in donations from over 900,000 donors in a four-day period to bail out protesters responding to George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Others are much smaller and operate through crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe. Individual donations also range widely: Gifts to The Bail Project, for example, range from a few dollars to millions.

We, two social scientists, are describing what are sometimes called “community bail funds.” More than 90 of these nonprofits are affiliated with the National Bail Fund Network, which operate as part of a broader strategy to end pretrial detention.

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