The ongoing battle by local officials, district attorneys, and law enforcement against New York’s failed cashless bail system won a major ally as President Trump ordered the elimination of the policy in Washington, D.C., and threatened to withhold federal funds from jurisdictions that still use it.
“We’re ending cashless bail, and we’re starting right here in Washington, D.C.,” Trump stated as he signed the executive order at the White House. “That was when the big crime started in this country. They thought it was discriminatory to make people put up money because they just killed three people lying on a street.”
Trump's mobilization of law enforcement in the nation’s Capitol has resulted in hundreds of arrests and a dramatic drop in crime, including the first murder-free week in years. Like many other cities led by Progressive Democrats with cashless bail and other pro-criminal policies, Washington suffered a crime wave that terrorized communities.
“The Radical Left’s fantasy of so-called ‘cashless bail’ has turned the streets of America’s cities into hunting grounds for repeat criminals who mock our justice system by committing crime after crime without consequence,” Trump said.
“Thank you, Mr. President, for joining the fight to make our streets safer,” said Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano, a local leader in pushing to change the weak criminal justice laws ushered in by the Democrats under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and maintained by his successor, Kathy Hochul. “It’s been a disaster ever since, and we’re happy to have some help from the White House.”
“My office will continue to seek that defendants who pose a threat to public safety remain in custody, despite the obvious flaws in our law,” said Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney, who pointed to a case involving an alleged arsonist as an example of the broken state system.
“My office requested that Amanda Burnside, an alleged serial arsonist, be held in jail on $500,000 cash, $1 million bond, or $1.5 million partially secured bond during the pendency of her case,” Tierney reported. “The arraignment judge nevertheless released the defendant on her own recognizance and told her to report for supervised release within 72 hours. Less than two hours after her release from detention, the defendant allegedly committed an armed robbery. Clearly, the dangerousness of this defendant, who allegedly tried to ignite three homes on fire, was not adequately considered, given that within two hours of her arraignment, she allegedly committed another serious, violent felony.”
In making his cashless bail announcement, Trump cited several New York cases illustrating the problem, including a man released despite dozens of prior arrests who smeared feces on a subway rider, another who executed a mother less than 24 hours after being freed for assault, two illegal immigrants who attacked NYPD officers and were released, and a repeat offender with 47 prior arrests and 28 convictions freed six times in a single year.
“I’m glad President Trump recognized how big of a problem this is and how dangerous it is,” said Senator Dean Murray. “Unfortunately, we’ve been living that nightmare since 2020, when the Democrat majority rammed through this horrible bail reform that went entirely too far. I’m hopeful that we can now use D.C. as a model and example in our fight here in New York.”