Biden releases 'gender equity' plan that calls for eliminating cash bail
Calls to end cash bail come at a time when FBI data show an unprecedented rise in violent crime
By
Michael Lee | Fox News
President Biden's plan to promote gender equity includes a proposal to eliminate cash bail for suspects, despite a rise in
violent crime across the country.
"We are also committed to increasing federal oversight and accountability for police departments and prosecutors’ offices to address systemic misconduct, including gender bias and sexual misconduct,"
reads part of a 42-page White House report entitled the National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality. "And we will work to end cash bail and reform our pretrial system, recognizing the harm these processes cause, particularly for Black women and families."
The report calls for a "whole of government" approach to ending gender inequalities, with the elimination of cash bail being one of the steps governments can take to combat gender and race disparities.
But the calls to end cash bail come at a time when FBI data show an
unprecedented rise in violent crime, with the numbers of murders in the U.S. rising by nearly 30% in 2020. That number represents the largest single-year increase recorded since the FBI began tracking the statistic.
The overall violent crime rate, which also includes assault, robbery and rape, rose 5% in 2020 compared to 2019.
Advocates for keeping the cash bail system argue that ending the practice would put the public at risk,
pointing to statistics in cities that have eliminated cash bail that show the likelihood of
re-arrest before trial rose 37% in those locations. Suspects were also
more likely to miss their court date in cities that had eliminated cash bail.
