The Michigan Supreme Court has launched a new program aimed at helping judges better assess whether or not to set bail for a defendant.
The court is testing a pretrial risk assessment tool designed to help judges decide who should be kept in jail, either because they pose a risk or might not return for their trail.
Supporters of reform say it’s expensive to keep defendants in jail before trial - and many defendants are stuck in jail simply because they don’t have the money to pay bail.
Judge Bridget McCormack is the Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. She said keeping people in jail simply because they can’t pay bail has a host of consequences.
“They miss work, they miss child support, they miss paying taxes. It’s not good policy economically and it’s not good policy for our communities.”
State data indicate that half of Michigan’s fifteen-hundred inmates are pretrial defendants. As many as three-quarters of those defendants could be charged with non-violent offenses.
Heather Garretson is with the American Civil Liberties Union. She said the current system disproportionately impacts black defendants.
“In lots of counties we see populations of African-Americans at about 14% but the pretrial detention rate is about 50%. So we know this is a place that is ripe for reform.”
National data show that it costs taxpayers roughly
$14 billion annually to keep people in jail before their trails.
Judge McCormack said the program will run for a year after which the Court will assess how effective the tool was.
“We are having our judges test a risk assessment tool that is data driven and will use data to predict risk and help the judges figure out who should be held pretrial and who shouldn’t.”
The program is being piloted in five jurisdictions across the state including Flint and Mount Pleasant.