The Republican-controlled state Senate passed legislation Thursday that would mostly do away with the granting of no-cash bail to criminal suspects in Georgia.
Senate Bill 63, which passed 31-23 largely along party lines, would prohibit judges from ordering no-cash bail unless the accused has been charged with a crime that does not carry a jail or prison sentence. No-cash bail would apply to a long list of violent and non-violent crimes, from murder and rape to possession of marijuana.
Democrats argued the bill would be counterproductive citing studies showing that the longer a criminal suspect sits in jail, the more likely that person is to become a repeat offender. Also, Democrats pointed to the fact that former Republican Governor Nathan Deal’s reforms were moving the state away from jailing nonviolent offenders, and this bill would be counterproductive to the reforms that have already been made.
In the end, Republicans offered an amendment to the bill that would allow first offenders cash bail, but a person charged with a crime who fails to appear in court would be denied cash bail on their “second or subsequent offense” rather than after the first.
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