On Monday, August 25, 2025, President Donald Trump signed two sweeping executive orders targeting the practice of cashless bail, a move that has reignited fierce debate over criminal justice reform, public safety, and the reach of federal authority. The orders, which focus first on Washington, D.C., and then extend to other jurisdictions nationwide, mark a dramatic escalation in the administration’s ongoing efforts to combat what Trump and his allies describe as a surge in crime linked to bail reform policies.
Standing before reporters at the White House, Trump did not mince words about his intentions. “That was when the big crime in this country started,” he declared, referring to the adoption of cashless bail in certain Democratic cities. “Somebody kills somebody, they go in, ‘Don’t worry about it—no cash, come back in a couple of months, we’ll give you a trial,’ you never see the person again.” According to NBC News, Trump has repeatedly blamed cashless bail for rising crime and has vowed to eliminate the practice, beginning with a federal takeover of Washington, D.C.
Cashless bail, as described by TIME and other outlets, allows individuals accused of certain crimes to be released from pretrial detention without paying money. Judges typically assess the severity of the alleged offense and the defendant’s risk of flight or danger to the community before making a decision. Proponents argue that cash bail systems are inherently unjust, disproportionately punishing poor people who cannot afford to buy their freedom while awaiting trial. Data from the Vera Institute of Justice underscores this point: roughly half of Americans struggle to cover a $400 emergency expense, while the average bail for a felony case stands at $10,000.
“In the six years before my organization, Civil Rights Corps, filed a constitutional civil rights lawsuit challenging the money bail system in Harris County, Texas, 55 human beings died in the local jail in downtown Houston because they were too poor to buy their release before trial,” criminal justice advocate Alec Karakatsanis wrote in TIME. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) echoed this sentiment following Trump’s executive orders, stating, “The people who will be most impacted are those with the fewest resources. Whether we can afford to pay should never determine our freedom.”
At the federal level, the use of cash bail for those charged with federal crimes was largely curtailed by the Bail Reform Act of 1966, only to be rolled back by a 1984 amendment that reintroduced preventative detention for certain charges. Meanwhile, states and localities have charted their own paths. Washington, D.C., has operated without a money bail system since 1992, relying on risk assessments by judges. New Jersey adopted a similar approach in 2017, and New York removed cash bail for certain offenses in 2020. In 2023, Illinois became the first state to abolish cash bail altogether, after the state’s Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the law.
Trump’s executive orders, as detailed in fact sheets provided to NBC News, direct law enforcement in D.C. to hold arrestees in federal custody “to the fullest extent permissible under applicable law” and to pursue federal charges and pretrial detention where possible. Attorney General Pam Bondi has been tasked with reviewing D.C.’s law enforcement practices and cashless bail policies, with the directive to "press" the district to change them. This pressure could include federal funding decisions, the provision of federal services or approvals, or other actions deemed necessary by the Attorney General.
The second executive order casts a wider net, requiring the Attorney General to submit a list within 30 days of jurisdictions that have, in her opinion, “substantially eliminated cash bail as a potential condition of pretrial release” for crimes that pose a clear threat to public safety. These crimes may include violent, sexual, or indecent acts, as well as burglary, looting, and vandalism. The administration will then identify federal funds currently provided to those jurisdictions that could be suspended or terminated.
Trump’s rationale hinges on the belief that cashless bail enables more crime. “Cashless bail—they thought it was discriminatory to make people put up money because they just killed three people lying on a street,” he said in the Oval Office, as reported by TIME. The White House fact sheet further asserts that “cashless bail policies allow dangerous individuals to immediately return to the streets and further endanger law-abiding, hard-working Americans because they know our laws will not be enforced.”
However, the connection between bail reform and crime rates is far from settled. A 2023 study from the District Attorney’s Office of Yolo County, California, found that the county’s COVID-era “zero bail” policy resulted in 163% more crime and 200% more violent crime compared to those who posted bail from April 2020 to May 2021. Yet, the study also noted that “individuals were released without any conditions and without any type of risk assessment conducted.”
More broadly, a Brennan Center for Justice report published in August 2024 concluded that there is “no statistically significant relationship” between cashless bail policies and upticks in violent crime after comparing 22 U.S. jurisdictions with bail reform to 11 without. Similarly, a report from the Loyola Chicago Center for Criminal Justice found that crime in Illinois did not increase after the elimination of cash bail, stating, “While we lack the data needed for a causal analysis at this point, we can say at least that crime in Illinois did not go up.”
Despite the mixed evidence, Trump and his supporters remain steadfast. U.S. Attorney for D.C., Jeanine Pirro, told Fox News, “Cashless bail is when all of the problems started,” asserting that released defendants are “reoffending and they’re reoffending again.” Critics, however, argue that the administration’s approach is an overreach and risks punishing the poor while failing to address the root causes of crime. As NBC News reported, the D.C. Council recently extended its own pretrial detention policy, and several states—including Illinois, New Mexico, and New Jersey—continue to push forward with bail reform efforts.
Trump’s executive orders are only the latest in a series of aggressive actions to broaden federal control over the capital. In recent weeks, National Guard troops in D.C. began carrying firearms, and the administration has threatened to deploy troops to Baltimore, Chicago, and New York. Other measures include clearing homeless encampments and restoring a Confederate memorial in Arlington National Cemetery. Trump has also ordered reviews of Smithsonian museums, arguing that their exhibits have not been sufficiently positive about U.S. history.
As the debate over cashless bail intensifies, the country finds itself at a crossroads: balancing public safety, constitutional protections, and the fight for a more equitable justice system. Whatever the outcome, Trump’s latest salvo ensures the issue will remain front and center in America’s political conversation.
