Title
Authorizing the Special Committee on Criminal Justice Reform to hold hearings regarding the role of a
bail fund in Philadelphia.
Body
WHEREAS, The system of cash
bail is a problematic feature of our criminal justice system, exacerbating racial and economic discrimination, contributing to overcrowding, and conflicting with the presumption of innocence embedded in our constitutional order; and
WHEREAS, Today, one in four of the people in the world who are incarcerated are incarcerated in the U.S., despite our having only 5 percent of the population; and
WHEREAS, Nationally, an average of 700,000 people are held in jails each day because they cannot afford to pay
bail, with women representing the fastest-growing group of incarcerated people in the United States, and black and trans women being especially vulnerable - for example, black women are twice as likely to be incarcerated as white women; and
WHEREAS, Eight out of ten women that are incarcerated are mothers, and half are incarcerated in local jails, mainly because they cannot afford to pay
bail, which undermines a woman's ability to take care of her children, hold a steady job, and maintain stable housing; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia has the fourth highest incarceration rate of the nation's 50 largest cities, with nearly 6 of every 1,000 residents behind bars, and most of those in the prison system population awaiting trial; and
WHEREAS, People of color are disproportionately arrested and incarcerated in the City of Philadelphia, for example black people are five times as likely to be incarcerated, twice as likely to be imprisoned once arrested, and thrice as likely to receive probation compared to white people; and
WHEREAS, About a quarter of the roughly 6,700 inmates currently housed in Philadelphia's criminal justice system are still awaiting trial; and
WHEREAS, Since July 2015, the City of Philadelphia has slashed its daily inmate population by nearly 20 percent as part of a...
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