National Review- Houston Democrat D.A. says Bad Bail Reform is Souce of Increasing Crime

 

Recent bail reform efforts in Houston that allow more suspects accused of low-level crimes to get out of jail without posting a cash bond have resulted in increased recidivism and more violent crime, a new Harris County District Attorney’s Office analysis found.

In addition, the 64-page report released last Thursday, found that even though bail reform in Harris County has been formally limited to misdemeanors since 2017, felony defendants have also been given reduced bonds or released from jail on their personal recognizance.

The report, released by District Attorney Kim Ogg, a Democrat, reaches starkly different conclusions than similar reports released over the last year by the Harris County Justice Administration Department and an independent group of social scientists assigned to monitor bail reform efforts in Houston. Those organizations found that reoffending rates for misdemeanors have not increased since bail reform was implemented, and that there is no evidence that increases in violent crime can be linked to bail reform.

In a letter to Harris County commissioners and to a county judge, Ogg wrote that those earlier reports “conflict with the daily experiences of prosecutors, police, and crime victims.” Her office used the same data to conduct its own analysis of bail reform’s impact on crime and safety.

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