Philly District Attorney Krasner defends cashless bail as Trump’s executive order threatens states, cities that implement it

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Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner defended the city’s use of cashless bail for some offenses, saying President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting cities and states that use the practice “is another example of the Criminal-in-Chief’s authoritarian power grab.”

On Monday, Trump signed an executive order which requires U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to identify states and jurisdictions that have “substantially eliminated cash bail as a potential condition of pretrial release from custody for crimes that pose a clear threat to public safety and order.” The order identifies several offenses that it says fall under these parameters, ranging from violent acts to vandalism.

The administration will then review federal funds allocated to those identified states and jurisdictions for potential suspension or termination, the order states.

“Our great law enforcement officers risk their lives to arrest potentially violent criminals, only to be forced to arrest the same individuals, sometimes for the same crimes, while they await trial on the previous charges,” the order reads. “This is a waste of public resources and a threat to public safety.”

In response, Krasner, who moved to eliminate cash bail for people facing certain nonviolent misdemeanors and felonies, said in a statement that the Trump administration “has consistently sought to dismantle solutions to public safety that work.”

“Cashless bail systems are better at holding people who pose a threat to public safety in custody awaiting trial while not punishing the poor for lower-level crimes,” Krasner wrote. “It should come as no surprise that Trump, a wealthy 34-time convicted felon capable of posting bail for his freedom, is threatening to defund jurisdictions that use cashless systems.”

After winning the race for Philadelphia’s district attorney in 2017, Krasner implemented a policy the following year under which prosecutors would not ask for cash bail for a variety of misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies, ranging from drug possession to prostitution. New Jersey also overhauled its bail system after voters supported an amendment to the state constitution to nearly eliminate cash bail in the state.

Advocates say the change is necessary to be fairer to low-income residents who do not have the ability to pay bail. Research by the Prison Policy Initiative found that about 70% of people being held in city and county jails across the country are in pretrial detention awaiting their day in court.

While some studies show eliminating cash bail reduced the rearrest rate of those charged with nonviolent felonies and misdemeanors, Republicans and conservatives have targeted the practice in recent years as being soft on crime. The White House has previously pointed to a 2022 report out of California that found more than 70% of people released as part of a temporary cashless bail system implemented to stem the spread of COVID-19 were rearrested.

Trump said earlier this month that “every place in the country where you have no cash bail is a disaster.”

Krasner, who earlier this month condemned Trump’s push to deploy the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and other cities to combat crime, said that the president is “spewing rhetoric about crime rates that do not match reality.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.