State lawmakers and local government officials like Assembly Codes Committee Chairman Joe Lentol say they want the push to end cash bail to be successful.
“We want it to be a good and fair way of dealing with bail reform. We don’t want it to fail,” Lentol said.
And with cash bail ending starting next year for many criminal charges, Lentol isn’t ruling out seeking more money for local governments who will have to enact the changes.
“We have to give the law a chance. The law is going to take effect January 1, [it] hasn’t even gone into effect and people are complaining about it,” Lentol said.
The state Assembly on Thursday took hours of testimony from advocates and local government officials to discuss how to enact the end of cash bail and how it would affect what are known as pre-trial services — like having defendants attend education or drug treatment programs and supervise them in the community. For officials like Delaware County’s Probation Director Scott Glueckert, the issue comes down to money and resources to provide those services.
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