By Blake Hollingsworth | Staff Writer
On Feb. 19, the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 9, which eliminates cashless and low-cost bail options for certain defendants, including those charged with murder, aggravated assault and fentanyl-related homicide.
Dr. Patrick Flavin, interim chair of political science at Baylor, said the bill fits with current state leadership’s goals.
“Being tough on crime is a priority of Gov. [Greg] Abbott, and this is certainly one way to signal that –– to pass a bill that would say ‘either limit what instances bail could be granted or require higher amounts of bail,’” Dr. Patrick Flavin, interim chair of political science, said.
The law is one of four bail reform bills enacted by the state senate, with the legislation being declared Emergency Items by Abbott.
“These bills are important to help keep dangerous and violent criminals from being released into our communities on improper bonds, where they could potentially commit more crimes. These reforms will help protect our families and our communities,” Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, a co-author of the bills, said in a Texas Senate press release.
SB 9 also prohibits bail for suspects with prior felony convictions, ICE detainers or felony charges while on parole, aiming to reduce repeat offenses. This law, along with three other bail reform measures –– including SJR 1, also known as “Jocelyn’s Law” –– was largely driven by the murder of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray in Houston in June, allegedly committed by two undocumented immigrants from Venezuela, according to the Texas Senate website.
“These two men were not denied bail for the murder of Jocelyn, even when the preponderance of evidence that existed at arraignment and the fact that their illegal alien status presented a major flight risk,” Sen. Joan Huffman, author of the proposals, said in a Texas Senate press release. “If these men had the financial means, they could be out on the streets today.”
However, the bill is not bipartisan, with many progressives arguing it will disadvantage poor defendants, according to Paul Yanowitch, adjunct professor of law at Baylor.
“A bunch of states, New York and others, said the cash bail system discriminates against people with low incomes because they just don’t have cash to put up,” Yanowitch said. “So the [pretrial detainees] sit in jail because most of their families don’t have enough money to get a cash bail.”
Conversely, Yanowitch said in recent efforts to replace cash bail with alternative methods, some released individuals have gone on to commit crimes shortly after their release, leading to backlash.
Despite this, Flavin believes concerns about suspects committing subsequent crimes while on bail is largely based on perception rather than data.
“I think there are some high profile examples of that, and they really drive public perception,” Flavin said. “If someone stays out on bail for a lesser offense and then commits a murder, that’s something that draws people’s attention. So I think perception is definitely the driving force here, which isn’t to say that people out on bail don’t commit crimes — that does happen –– but in terms of there being a significant uptick, I haven’t seen that in the data.”
Similarly, Yanowitch said that many people believe the legislature’s policy on illegal immigrants “takes advantage” of the public perception that they commit a “great degree of crime.”
“That’s, after all, a great measure of what the current president ran on, so lots of people believe that illegal immigrants cause lots of problems, including crime,” Yanowitch said. “There is repeated evidence that illegal immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than [Americans born in the United States].”
However, Yanowitch said these statistics can be “hard to gauge,” clarifying that they might not include crime done against other undocumented immigrants.
