Cash Bail and Race

Cash bail and its disproportionate impact on Black people

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Cash Bail and Race

Cash bail and its disproportionate impact on Black people

The data shows pervasive racial disparities among Pennsylvania’s bail practices. MDJs imposed cash bail more frequently for Black defendants than white defendants.

See data methodology

Rates of Cash Bail for Black and White by County

Note: Counties that had fewer than 50 cases involving a Black defendant are specially marked to flag the small number of cases. Numbers for these counties may not be meaningful. Further, AOPC data misclassifies Latinx people as white, leading to higher estimates of white cash bail. Finally, poor data reporting makes it difficult to measure bail rates for people of other races and ethnicities. For more information about our methodology and limitations, please see our report.

This graph displays counties ranked according to the magnitude of the racial disparity. Search for a county and compare the rate of cash bail for Black defendants versus white defendants.

Rates and Average Amounts of Cash Bail for Black and White by County

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Note: Counties that had fewer than 50 cases involving a Black defendant are specially marked to flag the small number of cases. Numbers for these counties may not be meaningful. Further, AOPC data misclassifies Latinx people as white, leading to higher estimates of white cash bail. Finally, poor data reporting makes it difficult to measure bail rates for people of other races and ethnicities. For more information about our methodology and limitations, please see our report.

Our analysis revealed that in 2016-2017, MDJs not only imposed cash bail on Black defendants more often than white defendants, but also imposed higher amounts of bail — on average, $12,866 more. This pattern persists in nearly every county across the state.

Racial Disparities in Cash Bail

Black Defendants White Defendants Outliers

Note: Counties that had fewer than 50 cases involving a Black defendant are specially marked to flag the small number of cases. Numbers for these counties may not be meaningful. Further, AOPC data misclassifies Latinx people as white, leading to higher estimates of white cash bail. Finally, poor data reporting makes it difficult to measure bail rates for people of other races and ethnicities. For more information about our methodology and limitations, please see our report.

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