Opposition Letter Led By Tzedek DC on the District of Columbia Cash Bail Reform Act of 2025 (H.R. November 2025

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, the House of Representatives debated the District of Columbia Cash Bail Reform Act of 2025 (H.R. 5214). I include in the Record a letter opposing this bill led by Tzedek DC. November 18, 2025. Hon. John Thune, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. Hon. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Hon. Chuck Schumer, U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. Hon. Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Leader, Washington, DC.

Dear Leader Thune, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Johnson, and Minority Leader Jeffries: We, the undersigned, non-partisan, nonprofit organizations and individual Americans, urge Congress to reject H.R. 5214, the District of Columbia Cash Bail Reform Act of 2025, which was recently voted out of Committee by the House Oversight Committee. The bill would force DC to adopt a cash bail system and introduce new categories of offenses requiring mandatory pretrial detention. These changes would require many people arrested in DC to provide cash or other forms of property as collateral for release before their trial. They would also remove judicial discretion to determine whether a person can be safely released, and if so, under what conditions. If H.R. 5214 (or its substance) is enacted, DC residents who are legally innocent and who present no danger to the community would be held in jail solely because they cannot afford to pay. Meanwhile, wealthier defendants could simply buy their freedom. This approach would displace and worsen DC's current system, which, as detailed below, has been effective and focused on public safety. Congress should, on a bipartisan basis, soundly reject the approach of this bill.

All of us who have signed this letter care deeply about the safety of our neighborhoods and the well-being of the District of Columbia. We grieve when there is a crime that harms a member of our community or someone visiting our Nation's Capital. It is because of that care and commitment that we all come together to reject the proposed legislation, as those changes to DC's local court's risk-based assessments will ultimately make our Nation's Capital less safe.

In 1992, the DC Council, DC's elected legislative branch under the Home Rule system established by Congress, found after extensive hearings that cash bail was harming, not helping, public safety. The Council adopted a system that, mirroring federal bail laws, removes wealth from the decision to release or detain someone pretrial. Under DC law, pretrial release considers whether the individual may pose a danger to the community or fail to return to court. This assessment is based on risk factors such as criminal background, threats to victims, and past failures to appear in court or otherwise abide by pretrial release conditions People on pretrial release are supervised by the Pretrial Services Agency (PSA). PSA officers meet regularly with those on pretrial release and, when appropriate, provide connections to services, such as mental health and drug treatment, and can remand people to jail custody if people are not meeting their supervision conditions. These factors prioritize safety. For three decades, DC's approach has kept appearance rates high and new offenses low.

Like Americans around the country, DC residents do not want violent crime in their community. But risk-based detention systems (sometimes confusingly referred to as ``cashless bail'') do not cause or increase crime. The data on this is clear. A study conducted by the DC Criminal Justice Coordinating Council found that in a recent six-month period, not a single person released after being charged with a violent or dangerous crime was rearrested for a violent or dangerous crime during their pretrial release. Similarly, data from the Pretrial Services Agency for DC (a federal agency) from the most recent nine months available shows that of the defendants released before their trial, only 1.20% have been rearrested for a violent crime, a 98.8% success rate on this metric.

National data reinforces the point that cash bail does not help make us safer. A 2024 Brennan Center for Justice study found ``no statistically significant difference in crime rates between cities that reformed their bail policies and those that did not.'' Similarly, after Harris County, Texas ended cash bail for most misdemeanors, the result was ``no corresponding increase in violent crime. After New Jersey implemented bipartisan bail reforms, violent crime declined while the jail population shrank significantly. A 2023 John Jay College of Criminal Justice report found that eliminating cash bail for misdemeanors in New York cut recidivism by nearly 50 percent. In contrast, people jailed in cash bail systems suffer worse outcomes-- like lower employment rates, lack of housing, and loss of family connections--for years into the future. This places them at a higher risk of recidivism. A study commissioned by Arnold Ventures looking at the impact of pretrial detention on 1.4 million people booked through a jail system over a decade found just one day in jail increases a person's likelihood of being arrested in the future.

Beyond the financial and familial losses suffered by pretrial detainees, there is a very real threat to physical well-being. Nationally, pretrial detention is the riskiest phase for in-custody deaths, and DC Jail is already unsafe. Even before the recent wave of arrests by the current federal executive branch, a report by the DC Auditor in collaboration with the Council for Court Excellence (CCE) found that the death rate at DC Jail is 3.5 times the national average. This same report found that ``[a]side from the disrepair and filth of the building, the architectural design of [the jail], combined with staffing shortages, is contributing to violence and deaths in custody.'' Recent changes imposed by the federal government have already increased strain on the facility. The newest data collected by the CCE supports this, showing a 10 percent increase in the jail population since the August law enforcement surge. Under the cash bail system proposed in H.R. 5214, anyone unable to pay their bond amount would remain in custody, likely at this facility. Cash bail threatens to increase the jail population and aggravate already-unsafe conditions--risking the lives of those who cannot afford to buy their freedom.

H.R. 5214 would also override the will of DC voters and increase costs to DC residents. DC's current risk-based pre- trial detention system has been effectively prioritizing safety since 1992; if the current system begins failing District residents, DC's democratically elected representatives are well-positioned to respond. H.R. 5214 would also bring increased costs to DC taxpayers. Incarcerating someone at the DC jail can cost $241 a day; the price of maintaining the current jail population of 1,977 costs DC residents approximately $476,457 every day and over $173 million every year. Introducing cash bail and expanding mandatory pretrial detention would run these estimates even higher. Every dollar spent on jailing low-risk people is a dollar not spent on schools, mental health care, roads or targeted law enforcement needs.

Congress can stand with the residents of the District and prioritize public safety by rejecting these proposals. Dispel myths that D.C. allows all individuals to be released regardless of their crime or history. Review the data and evidence. Listen to the voices of the people who are most impacted by the laws applied to the District of Columbia.

We urge Congress to reject H.R. 5214 and keep safety, not wealth, the basis of pretrial decisions. Sincerely,

Tzedek DC; Council for Court Excellence; DC Justice Lab; ACLU-D.C.; Americans for Financial Reform; Appleseed Foundation; Bar Association of the District of Columbia; Catholic Charities Welcome Home Reentry Program; Center for Legal and Evidence-Based Practices; Center for Survivor Agency and Justice; Christian Legal Aid of DC; Civil Rights Corps; Coalition for Justice; Coalition on Human Needs.

DC Action; DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice; DC Chapter National Organization for Women; DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence; DC Fiscal Policy Institute; DC for Democracy; Disability Rights DC at University Legal Services; Eunnae at Law PLLC; Everyone Home DC; Fair Budget Coalition; Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop; Interfaith Action for Human Rights; Kansas Appleseed.

Lawyers for Good Government; Legal Action Center; Legal Aid DC; Lillian's Southern Box Catering; Maine Peoples Alliance; Mi Casa, Inc.; Michigan League for Public Policy; Michigan Liberation; Montana Budget & Policy Center; More Than Our Crimes; Mother's Outreach Network; National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; National Center for Law and Economic Justice; National Coalition for Drug Legalization.

National Legal Aid & Defender Association; Neighbors for Justice; Network for Developing; Conscious Communities; Open City Advocates; Open Horizon; Pathways to Housing DC; Project love u; Public Justice Center; Sasha Bruce Youthwork Inc; School Justice Project; The Bail Project; The Festival Center; The National Reentry Network for Returning Citizens; The Second Look Project; The T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project.

The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless; Thrive Under 25; Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C.; University of Baltimore School of Law Center for Criminal Justice Reform; University of the District of Columbia Law School; Volare; VYTL Inc; Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs; Westminster Presbyterian Church DC; Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia.

Aayushma Bastola; Abi Hollinger; Alessandro Coreas; Alex Tyson; Alexander Lyles; Alexandra Smith; Alicia N; Alyson Palmer; Ana Pyper; Ann Keep; April Fernandes; Ariel Levinson- Waldman; Ashlei Craig; Ashley Arnold; Ashley Martin; Ata Akiner; Aubrey Dillon.

Balazs Horvath; Barbara E. Swan; Bonnie Harris; Carmen Bolt; Cassandra Lyons; Cassaundra Coleman; Catherine Quinn; Christian Constantine; Crystal Jones Nieves; David J. Cynamon; Dr. Kirstin A. Morgan; Elisa Ortiz; Elizabeth Field; Emily Karandy; Erin Eife; Fabian Lucero, Esq.

Gabby Mulnick Majewski; Gabriel Goldberg; George Derek Musgrove; Gianna Karandy; Glenn Engelmann; Gwen Umbach; Gwendolyn Green; Harvey Reiter; Henry F. Fradella, J.D., Ph.D.; Hugh T. Keleher; James J. Sandman; Jason A. Grant, Esq.; Jayme Epstein; Jen Jenkins; Jennifer Copp; Jennifer Nicole Alameda; Jennifer Ricketts; Jennifer Ubiera; Jonathan M. Smith; Jorge Tormes.

Joshua Horvath; Joy Welan; Judith Sandalow; June Kress; Katharine Mark; Kathryn Ferger; Katie Feioek; Katie McConville; Kelli Coffman; Kezia Constantine; Lee Ann Anderson, Esq.; Leonard Bailey; Lisa Cohen; Lisa Foster, Ward 2; Lisa Greenman; Madeline Bateman; Maxon Orchard; Margaret J. Lyons; Margie Clark; Mark Randolph.

Marta Beresin; MaryAnna Foskett; MaryEva Candon, DC native, DC Voter since 1972; Meghan Briggs; Michael Williams; Michael Young; Misty Thomas Zaleski; Nancy Liebermann; Nashrah Ahmed; Nikisha Gordon; Nina F. Simon; Patricia Harlow; Paul Ashton; Professor Emily Cassometus; Rachel Gilliam; Rachel N.; Ralph P. Albrecht, Past President, Bar Association of DC.

Rebecca Lindhurst; Ren Newport; Risa Wallach; Robert Rozen; Ruth Enriquez; Ruth Friedman; Sade Cole; Sam H; Sam Pannell; Sapna Mirchandani; Sarah Baczewski; Sarah Foster; Shelley Broderick; Spurgeon Kennedy; Stacey Crooks; Stephen Benson, PhD; Susan M. Liss; Susie Cambria; Tamasha Johnson; Tim Curry, DC Ward 4; Vanessa Lopez; Violeta Zamora; Ward 7 Committeewoman; Willard K. Tom.

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