I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4019 
To provide grants to States and Indian tribes to reform their criminal justice 
system to encourage the replacement of the use of payment of secured 
money bail as a condition of pretrial release in criminal cases, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 11, 2017 
Mr. TED LIEU of California (for himself, Mr. CURBELO of Florida, Mrs. 
LOVE, and Ms. JACKSON LEE) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To provide grants to States and Indian tribes to reform 
their criminal justice system to encourage the replace-
ment of the use of payment of secured money bail as 
a condition of pretrial release in criminal cases, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pretrial Integrity and 
Safety Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. PURPOSE AND FINDINGS. 
(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide 
grants to States and Indian tribes to reform their criminal 
justice system to encourage the replacement of the use of 
payment of money bail as a condition of pretrial release 
in criminal cases. 
(b) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The money bail system has proven to be an 
ineffective method of protecting public safety. Re-
search shows that under money bail systems, nearly 
50 percent of defendants who were determined to be 
high-risk were allowed to return to the community 
with little or no effective oversight simply because 
they could afford to pay the amount set for money 
bail. 
(2) Other studies have shown that for low-risk 
individuals, pretrial detention for even short periods 
makes it more likely the individuals will commit new 
crimes following release. Low-risk defendants held 
for as little as 3 days are 40 percent more likely to 
commit a crime during the pretrial period compared 
to comparable defendants released within 24 hours. 
(3) According to the Arnold Foundation, ‘‘Com-
pared to individuals released within 24 hours of ar-
rest, low-risk defendants held 2–3 days were 17 per-
cent more likely to commit another crime within two 
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years. Detention periods of 4–7 days yielded a 35 
percent increase in re-offense rates. And defendants 
held for 8–14 days were 51 percent more likely to 
recidivate than defendants who were detained less 
than 24 hours.’’. 
(4) Jailing arrested individuals before trial is 
the greatest expense generated by current pretrial 
justice practice. Unconvicted detainees account for 
95 percent of jail population growth, nationally, 
since 2000. Taxpayers now spend approximately 
$38,000,000 per day to jail individuals who are 
awaiting 
trial. 
Annually, 
this 
adds 
up 
to 
$14,000,000,000 used to detain individuals. 
(5) Unnecessary detention may be counter-
productive and undermine an important purpose of 
money bail—specifically to produce the defendant at 
trial. Studies show that those who are detained pre-
trial for more than 24 hours and then released are 
less likely to reappear as required than other simi-
larly situated defendants who are detained for less 
than 24 hours. 
(6) In Bearden v. Georgia, 461 U.S. 660, 671 
(1983), the Supreme Court of the United States 
stated that the due process and equal protection 
principles of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Con-
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stitution of the United States prohibit ‘‘punishing a 
person for his poverty’’. The Court prohibited the in-
carceration of indigent probationers for non-willful 
failure to pay a fine because to ‘‘do otherwise would 
deprive the probationer of his conditional freedom 
simply because, through no fault of his own, he can-
not pay the fine.’’. State and local justice systems 
that impose money bail that leads to pretrial defend-
ants being detained because they cannot afford a 
money bail amount may result in ‘‘punishing a per-
son’’ for his or her poverty. 
(7) Pretrial detention can lead to devastating 
effects, including threatening the employment, hous-
ing stability, child custody, and access to healthcare 
of an individual. Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 
532–33 (1972) (‘‘The time spent in jail awaiting 
trial has a detrimental impact on the individual. It 
often means loss of a job; it disrupts family life; and 
it enforces idleness. Most jails offer little or no rec-
reational or rehabilitative programs. The time spent 
in jail is simply dead time. Moreover, if a defendant 
is locked up, he is hindered in his ability to gather 
evidence, contact witnesses, or otherwise prepare his 
defense. Imposing those consequences on anyone 
who has not yet been convicted is serious. It is espe-
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cially unfortunate to impose them on those persons 
who are ultimately found to be innocent.’’). 
(8) Nationwide, about 9 in 10 detained defend-
ants had a money bail amount set but were unable 
to meet the financial conditions required to secure 
release. 
(9) The inability to post money bail may result 
in innocent individuals pleading guilty to low-level 
crimes so they can be released. 
(10) Money bail systems have resulted in dis-
parate harms to poor people and communities of 
color. Studies have shown that African-American 
and Hispanic defendants are more likely to be de-
tained pretrial than White defendants and less likely 
to be able to post money bail so they can be re-
leased. Moreover, race and money bail amounts are 
significantly correlated. Nationally, African-Amer-
ican men pay 35 percent higher money bail amounts 
than White men, and Hispanic men pay 19 percent 
higher money bail amounts than White men. 
(11) Congress should encourage replacement of 
the practice of money bail systems to provide for a 
more equal and effective criminal justice system for 
the people of the United States. 
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SEC. 3. PRETRIAL INTEGRITY AND SAFETY. 
Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘PART MM—PRETRIAL INTEGRITY AND SAFETY 
‘‘SEC. 3031. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this part— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘charge-risk profile’ means a com-
posite of the charge (or charge category) and risk 
score (or risk category of failing to appear in court 
or being rearrested) of a defendant; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘eligible entity’ means a public or 
private entity, including— 
‘‘(A) a nonprofit entity (including a tribal 
nonprofit); 
‘‘(B) a faith-based or community organiza-
tion; 
‘‘(C) a State or tribal court system; 
‘‘(D) a unit of local government; and 
‘‘(E) an Indian tribe; 
‘‘(3) the term ‘evidence-based practices’, with 
respect to supervision of the conditions of pretrial 
release, means intervention programs and super-
vision policies, procedures, programs, and practices 
that scientific research demonstrates are the least 
restrictive necessary to reduce the instance of a fail-
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ure by a defendant to appear in court or criminal 
activity by a defendant during the pretrial period, 
when implemented competently; 
‘‘(4) the term ‘least restrictive conditions’— 
‘‘(A) includes court date notifications by 
phone call, letter or postcard, text message, in- 
person reminder, or another noninvasive pre-
trial supervisory condition; and 
‘‘(B) does not include a condition that im-
poses additional financial obligations on the de-
fendant, including charging the defendant for 
implementation of the conditions; 
‘‘(5) the term ‘money bail’ means a secured 
monetary obligation that is imposed by a court as a 
condition of the release of a defendant before the 
trial or adjudication of the criminal charges pending 
against the defendant; 
‘‘(6) the term ‘reason for detention’ means 
whether a defendant was held without bond, held on 
another charge, or held for another reason; 
‘‘(7) the term ‘release condition’ means whether 
a defendant was released— 
‘‘(A) based on nonfinancial, personal recog-
nizance; 
‘‘(B) with pretrial supervision; 
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