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INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana University social policy think-tank says a new state law that sets limits on The Bail Project will disproportionately impact minority groups and low-income people.
“The cash bail system disproportionately impacts the lives of Black and Latinx individuals with lasting consequences,” IU’s Center for Research on Inclusion and Social Policy said in a new policy brief released Tuesday. “Inequities in detention rates translate into disparities in conviction rates, courtroom debt and incarceration.”
The new law requires charitable bail organizations to register with the Indiana Department of Insurance and sets new limits on who they can bail out.
They can still post bail for most people charged with misdemeanors or non-violent felonies under the new law, but they can no longer assist people accused of violent felonies or those who have ever been convicted of a violent felony.
Lawmakers who support the new law said it set up rules for charities in the same kind of way it regulates the private bail industry.
In March as the new law was being debated in the Statehouse, David Gaspar, The Bail Project’s national director, told WRTV the proposal would create one system of justice for folks with money and another much harsher system for the poor.
Read more from WRTV here
