A leading Democratic Senate Candidat in Wisconsin wants to abolish cash bail, despite concerns that lower or non-existent bails could lead to further increases in violent crimes.
The Wisconsin Lt. Governor campaign. Mandela Barnes supported the Democratic front-runner’s call to end cash bail.
Barnes sponsored a state bill in 2016 to abolish cash bail in Wisconsin. A separate bill was also introduced that year to reduce penalties for bail jumpers in certain circumstances.
Barnes’ bail-jumping legislation would have reduced the penalty for violating pretrial releases agreements. A spokeswoman for Barnes confirmed that he supports the bail-jumping legislation to local media.
“The lieutenant governor believes that we should decide who is in prison before their trial starts based on the risk they pose to our community, and not how much money they possess,” Maddy McDaniel spokeswoman for Barnes’ campaign. She told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday.
The abolition cash bail has been supported by progressive Democrats, from the ” Squad” to the President Biden.
Darrell Brooks was the Waukesha parade attacker. He is accused of killing six people, including a child. Five days prior to the massacre, he was released on $1,000 bail on domestic violence charges.
Brooks was accused of running over his mother with the same SUV that he used in the parade attack. Brooks is currently being held in lieu of $5 million bail.
According to the Times Union, data from New York’s Office of Court Administration that was reviewed by the Times Union, over 3,400 New Yorkers were re-arrested in New York for violent crimes following their release under the new bail law.