A new report by Tzedek DC, “Why Imposing Cash Bail Would Fail the People of DC,” details how the District became a role model for its risk-based detention system adopted in 1992. The report shows why a bill to reimpose cash bail in DC—slated to be voted on by the House in the coming days—would both violate home rule principles and harm DC residents, while bringing no added benefit.
“The DC Council is and should be the local legislative body for our community. Federal attempts to reimpose cash bail in DC could lead to more families facing housing and job insecurity, greater rates of recidivism, more trauma for people detained in the already dangerous and overcrowded DC Jail, and less funding for District schools, mental health support facilities, and other critical needs,” said Tzedek DC Founding Director Ariel Levinson-Waldman.
Cash bail means that release after arrest is conditioned on a monetary payment. Individuals must agree to pay a set amount of money—from their own pockets, the pockets of family members, or by working with a for-profit bail bond company—before they can be released to await their trial. Cash bail creates a two-tiered pre-trial system: one where wealthy people can buy their freedom, and another where anyone unable to pay is held in jail before ever being convicted of a crime.
Since 1992, the elected officials of the District of Columbia, having witnessed the harms of cash bail on our community in the decades before that, chose a non-monetary or risk-based bail system focused on public safety.
Dangerous federal actions could dismantle this longstanding and effective DC public safety law by mandating a cash bail system in DC. Two executive orders threaten to impose cash bail in DC and in jurisdictions across the country. House bill HR 5214, voted out of the House Oversight Committee on September 10, 2025, without hearing from a single witness to provide data or develop a record, would create a pretrial detention system predicated in significant part on a person’s wealth rather than potential risks to community safety.
Some in Congress have advocated for cash bail by claiming that people arrested in DC—who have not been convicted of a crime—would benefit from sitting in jail for a few weeks to sober up and “get their mind right.” The evidence shows the opposite: when people are incarcerated pretrial, they witness violence, they lose their jobs, and they lose their housing. These outcomes leave them at a higher risk of reoffending.
The report ends with a call to action for DC residents and all Americans to let their voices be heard in opposition to the federal government mandating the reimposition of cash bail in the District of Columbia. In parallel, Tzedek DC, Council for Court Excellence, and DC Justice Lab are submitting a coalition letter with over 160 DC and national allies to the leadership of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Click here to view the full report.
About Tzedek DC
Tzedek DC’s name is drawn from the ancient Jewish teaching “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” or “Justice, justice you shall pursue.” Headquartered at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law and with offices also in Ward 8, Tzedek DC’s mission is to safeguard the legal rights and financial health of DC residents with lower incomes facing the often-devastating consequences of debt collection and credit-related obstacles. This mission is carried out as anti-racism work in response to the massive wealth gaps tracking race in DC and nationwide. Tzedek DC seeks to serve and empower our client base, which is comprised of 90% Black people, 60% women, and 25% disabled community members. Our strategic approach combines three synergistic activities: (i) free direct services—legal representation and advice and financial counseling; (ii) working in coalition to make systemic change; and (iii) providing bilingual community legal education on debt collection, identity theft, and credit management. Since launching in 2017, Tzedek DC has served over 6,000 households and catalyzed systemic change benefiting hundreds of thousands of DC community members.