In most places in America, people have long had the right, if accused of a crime, to buy their freedom back from the government. Cash bail — the requirement that a person who has been arrested pay the court money in order to secure their own release while charges are pending — is a norm in the U.S., making us one of only two countries in the world with a for-profit bail industry.

Among a flurry of other potentially unenforceable or unconstitutional executive actions, President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order to undo state and local bail reforms. Specifically, he is pushing back on the move by some jurisdictions to end the antiquated practice of cash bail. Trump has framed the policy as “tough on crime,” but the data reveals cash bail to actually be dumb on crime. Eliminati

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