Voters in Cumberland County soon will have an opportunity to make our justice system more just. Seth Levy is running for district attorney on a platform of eliminating cash bail for low-risk offenders.

Our current system of cash bail is both immoral and a complete failure. Evidence shows that cash bail has virtually no effect on whether people show up to court. What’s more, a violent defendant with money can be released back into the public, while a nonviolent defendant without money may be held in jail before they even go to trial. Why is our justice system dependent on how much money one has?

Many defendants who can’t afford cash bail are in jail pretrial simply because they are poor. As many as two-thirds of people in the Cumberland County jail are there pre-trial. Oftentimes, that means defendants in need of substance abuse treatment or mental health services are left to suffer. If our goal is to rehabilitate, why are we keeping people in jail without treatment? Plus, low-income defendants who are being held in jail pre-trial often miss work and then lose their jobs. How does that help our society? How is that just?

Washington, D.C., has implemented a cashless bail system with great success. Their mission is geared toward matching defendants with supervised release and wraparound services. The Bronx Freedom Fund pays bail for defendants and sees 96 percent of them return for all their court dates – and that’s without any form of pretrial supervision.

Is the purpose of our justice system to rehabilitate? Then we are failing. Is the purpose of our system to punish poor people disproportionately? Under our current system of cash bail, it certainly seems that way. To change this system, support Seth Levy for Cumberland County district attorney in the June 12 Democratic primary.

Meg Reilly

Portland