Title: Pretrial Integrity and Safety Act of 2021
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
Pretrial Integrity and Safety Act of 2021
This bill requires the Office of Justice Programs within the Department of Justice to make grants (1) to replace bail systems that use payment of money as a condition of pretrial release in criminal cases, and (2) to implement a National Pretrial Reporting Program to collect data on the processing of defendants by state and local courts.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2152 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2152

 To provide grants to States, localities, 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

                             March 23, 2021

 Mr. Lieu (for himself and Mr. Nadler) introduced the following bill; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide grants to States, localities, 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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 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 
2021''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE AND FINDINGS.

    (a) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to provide grants to 
States, units of local government, 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 justice system of the United States, a cornerstone 
        of our free society, is built on the ideals that all accused 
        people are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty, 
        that all accused people have the right to assert their 
        innocence in a trial, that liberty should not be denied absent 
        due process of law, that rich and poor people should be treated 
        equally, and that people should be judged by their own 
        individual actions, and not prejudged based on the actions of 
        others.
            (2) Pretrial detention and the money bail systems prevalent 
        in most States undermine these ideals by jailing people 
        unnecessarily before a finding of guilt and with minimal due 
        process, and by establishing a system that allows wealthy 
        people to pay for their liberty, while poor people remain in 
        jail.
            (3) The inability to post money bail may result in innocent 
        people pleading guilty to low-level crimes they did not commit 
        so they can be released.
            (4) Money bail systems have resulted in disparate harms to 
        poor people and communities of color. Compared to white men 
        charged with the same crime and with the same criminal 
        histories, African-American men receive bail amounts that are 
        35 percent higher, and for Latino men, bail is set 19 percent 
        higher than for white men.
            (5) African Americans are 24 percent more likely to be 
        denied bail and 21 percent less likely to be granted non-
        financial release than whites with similar legal 
        characteristics. Latinos are 25 percent less likely to be 
        granted nonfinancial conditions of release.
            (6) Although most women in jail are charged with nonviolent 
        crimes, women are less likely to be able to afford money bail, 
        and women in jail before trial earn scarcely more per year than 
        the average bail amount of $10,000.
            (7) Detaining people who would otherwise be highly likely 
        to succeed in pretrial compliance, even just for a few days, is 
        strongly correlated with higher rates of new criminal activity 
        both during the pretrial period and years after case 
        disposition.
            (8) When held for 2 to 3 days, people who would have been 
        highly likely to succeed in their communities are almost 40 
        percent more likely to be arrested for new crimes before trial 
        than similarly situated defendants held no more than 24 hours.
            (9) Court reminder programs are a low-cost, highly 
        effective way of improving court appearance rates. One review 
        of different forms of court reminders found failure-to-appear 
        rates were reduced by 23 to 43 percent with the use of 
        reminders.
            (10) Pretrial supervision is most effective for people with 
        a decreased probability of appearing in court, reducing 
        failures to appear by 33 to 38 percent.
            (11) Jailing 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.

SEC. 3. PRETRIAL INTEGRITY AND SAFETY.

    Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 
(34 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

                ``PART OO--PRETRIAL INTEGRITY AND SAFETY

``SEC. 3051. GRANTS AND CONDITIONS.

    ``(a) Grants Authorized.--
            ``(1) Replacement of money bail.--The Assistant Attorney 
        General may make grants to eligible entities for the 
        replacement of the use of payment of money bail as a condition 
        of pretrial release with respect to criminal cases.
            ``(2) National pretrial reporting program.--The Assistant 
        Attorney General may make grants to eligible entities to 
        implement a National Pretrial Reporting Program to collect data 
        on the processing of defendants by courts of States, units of 
        local government, and Indian Tribes.
    ``(b) Terms and Conditions.--
            ``(1) Duration of grants.--A grant under subsection (a) 
        shall be for a period of 3 fiscal years.
            ``(2) Maximums.--
                    ``(A) Replacement of money bail.--
                            ``(i) Maximum numbers.--During each fiscal 
                        year for which amounts are made available to 
                        carry out subsection (a)(1), the Assistant 
                        Attorney General may award not more than 6 
                        grants under such subsection to eligible 
                        entities for the 3-year grant period beginning 
                        in such fiscal year.
                            ``(ii) Maximum amounts.--In making grants 
                        under subsection (a)(1) for a 3-year grant 
                        period beginning in a fiscal year, the 
                        Assistant Attorney General shall ensure that 
                        the total amount awarded under all grants for 
                        the duration of such period does not exceed 
                        $10,000,000, of which--
                                    ``(I) not more than $6,500,000 
                                shall be grants to State, local, or 
                                Tribal court systems; and
                                    ``(II) not more than $3,500,000 
                                shall be grants to eligible entities 
                                that are not a State, local, or Tribal 
                                court system to provide technical 
                                assistance, training, and performance 
                                evaluation.
                    ``(B) National pretrial reporting program.--The 
                Assistant Attorney General may not make more than 
                $5,000,000 in grants under subsection (a)(2) for any 3-
                year period.
    ``(c) Use of Funds for Replacement of Money Bail Grants.--
            ``(1) Activities.--Amounts received under a grant under 
        subsection (a)(1)--
                    ``(A) shall be used for developing the long-term, 
                sustainable capacity to perform more effective pretrial 
                practices that include system analysis, training and 
                technical assistance, meeting facilitation, research 
                and performance evaluation, and information technology 
                reprogramming; and
                    ``(B) in carrying out pretrial practices, shall 
                seek to incorporate and implement the elements 
                described in paragraph (2).
            ``(2) Elements.--The elements described in this paragraph 
        are--
                    ``(A) expanding the use of citations instead of 
                custodial arrest;
                    ``(B) replacing the use of payment of money as a 
                condition of pretrial release;
                    ``(C) requiring representation by counsel with 
                adequate training in representing defendants at 
                pretrial detention hearing for all defendants as soon 
                as feasible after custodial restraint, but not later 
                than the first hearing at which a defendant's liberty 
                is subject to restriction;
                    ``(D) providing for--
                            ``(i) a presumption of release in all 
                        cases; and
                            ``(ii) limiting the authority to request 
                        pretrial detention to those defendants who have 
                        been charged with--
                                    ``(I) felony offenses involving 
                                actual violence against another person 
                                or punishable by a maximum term of life 
                                imprisonment;
                                    ``(II) misdemeanor crimes of 
                                domestic violence;
                                    ``(III) misdemeanor crimes of 
                                stalking; or
                                    ``(IV) misdemeanor hate crimes;
                    ``(E) ensuring that before detention or any 
                condition of pretrial release more restrictive than 
                release on recognizance is imposed, there is a pretrial 
                release hearing that--
                            ``(i) provides for the right to present 
                        evidence, the right to cross-examine adverse 
                        witnesses, and the right to testify or remain 
                        silent;
                            ``(ii) results in a written record 
                        explaining the clear and convincing evidence 
                        relied on by the judicial officer to justify a 
                        detention order or additional condition of 
                        release; and
                            ``(iii) occurs as soon as feasible after 
                        custodial restraint, but not later than 24 
                        hours after custodial restraint if the 
                        individual is being detained, unless the 
                        defendant requests a continuance;
                    ``(F) ensuring that before pretrial detention is 
                imposed--
                            ``(i) a judicial officer determines by 
                        clear and convincing evidence that the 
                        individual poses a high risk of intentional 
                        avoidance of prosecution or of seriously 
                        physically harming another reasonably 
                        identifiable person during the adjudication 
                        period;
                            ``(ii) a judicial officer determines by 
                        clear and convincing evidence that no 
                        condition, or combination of conditions, can 
                        sufficiently mitigate a high risk of 
                        intentional avoidance of prosecution or of 
                        seriously physically harming another reasonably 
                        identifiable person during the adjudication 
                        period; and
                            ``(iii) no less restrictive condition is 
                        adequate to address the specific risk or risks 
                        identified;
                    ``(G) ensuring that before any condition of 
                pretrial release more restrictive than release on 
                recognizance is imposed--
                            ``(i) a judicial officer determines by 
                        clear and convincing evidence that the 
                        individual poses a high risk of intentional 
                        avoidance of prosecution or of seriously 
                        physically harming another reasonably 
                        identifiable person during the adjudication 
                        period; and
                            ``(ii) a judicial officer determines by 
                        clear and convincing evidence that no less 
                        restrictive conditions or pretrial supports can 
                        sufficiently mitigate a high risk of 
                        intentional avoidance of prosecution or of 
                        seriously physically harming another reasonably 
                        identifiable person during the adjudication 
                        period;
                    ``(H) if pretrial release requires imposing 
                additional conditions beyond release on recognizance, 
                ensuring that these conditions--
                            ``(i) are nonfinancial, pose no cost to the 
                        defendant, and are relevant only to the charge;
                            ``(ii) are the least restrictive conditions 
                        that would reasonably ensure the appearance of 
                        the defendant in court or that would reasonably 
                        ensure that the defendant does not present an 
                        imminent threat of serious physical harm to a 
                        reasonably identifiable person; and
                            ``(iii) were set without consideration of 
                        or with decreased weight given to criminal 
                        convictions older than 2 years;
                    ``(I) ensuring supervision of the conditions of 
                pretrial release is based on proven data outcomes;
                    ``(J) improvements made to the applicable pretrial 
                services agency that, among other functions--
                            ``(i) provides support to defendants 
                        awaiting trial to effectively meet the 
                        conditions of release placed on them by the 
                        judicial officer;
                            ``(ii) provides outreach to and partnership 
                        with community-based support structures to 
                        connect defendants with supportive services; 
                        and
                            ``(iii) provides data collection, analysis, 
                        and research capabilities to assist the 
                        jurisdiction in achieving the benchmarks listed 
                        in paragraph (3);
                    ``(K) ensuring an officer of the State, unit of 
                local government, or Indian Tribe that brought the 
                charges against the defendant appears before a 
                committing magistrate, judge, or other judicial officer 
                at all hearings;
                    ``(L) ensuring the constitutional right of a 
                defendant to a speedy trial is effectuated, including--
                            ``(i) setting specific limits on the time 
                        within which either the defendant shall be 
                        brought to trial or the case shall be resolved 
                        through a nontrial disposition;
                            ``(ii) providing guidelines for computing 
                        the time within which the trial must be 
                        commenced or the case otherwise resolved; and
                            ``(iii) establishing appropriate 
                        consequences in the event that the right of the 
                        defendant to a speedy trial is denied, and 
                        ensuring that under no circumstances a person 
                        is detained longer than the maximum sentence 
                        allowable if convicted of the charges;
                    ``(M) ensuring that the defendant and the State, 
                unit of local government, or Indian Tribe that brought 
                the charges against the defendant is entitled to an 
                immediate, expedited appeal of a pretrial detention 
                decision; and
                    ``(N) instituting a system of data collection and 
                reporting to determine the effectiveness of the process 
                replacing the money bail system.
            ``(3) Benchmarks.--A State, local, or Tribal court system 
        receiving a grant under subsection (a)(1) shall seek to achieve 
        the following:
                    ``(A) Defendants return to court rates are not less 
                than 95 percent.
                    ``(B) Not more than 10 percent of defendants are 
                rearrested pending trial.
                    ``(C) Overall release rates of defendants pending 
                trial are not less than 95 percent.
                    ``(D) 100 percent of defendants have an attorney at 
                the first appearance of the defendant before a 
                magistrate, judge, or other judicial officer.
                    ``(E) 100 percent of defendants preventively 
                detained were detained after a pretrial release hearing 
                that occurred not later than 24 hours after custodial 
                restraint, unless the defendant requested a 
                continuance.
                    ``(F) To the extent feasible, charging decisions 
                are made not later than 14 days after the date of the 
                issuance of a citation or custodial arrest.
                    ``(G) To the extent feasible, the trial of the 
                defendant begins not later than 30 days after the date 
                of the issuance of a citation or custodial arrest.
                    ``(H) No defendants were detained during any 
                portion of time from arrest through adjudication simply 
                due to an inability to satisfy a legal financial 
                obligation set by the court.
            ``(4) Alternative pretrial release mechanisms.--Nothing in 
        this part shall be construed to prohibit the consideration of 
        alternative pretrial release mechanisms that replace money bail 
        systems while furthering the principles described in this part.
    ``(d) Annual Report.--
            ``(1) In general.--Each entity receiving a grant under this 
        section shall submit to the Assistant Attorney General, for 
        each fiscal year during which the entity expends amounts 
        received under the grant, a report, at such time and in such 
        manner as the Assistant Attorney General may reasonably 
        require, that contains--
                    ``(A) a summary of the activities carried out using 
                amounts made available under the grant;
                    ``(B) an assessment of whether the activities are 
                meeting the need for the program identified in the 
                application for the grant;
                    ``(C) for a grant under subsection (a)(1), data on 
                the money bail program of the State, local, or Tribal 
                court system; and
                    ``(D) such other information as the Assistant 
                Attorney General may require.
            ``(2) Data.--The data provided under paragraph (1)(C) 
        shall--
                    ``(A) be broken down by the demographic variables 
                of age group, sex, race and ethnicity, disability, and 
                charges filed;
                    ``(B) include the percentage of defendants detained 
                in jail or prison who are released from jail or prison 
                prior to case disposition, broken down by demographic 
                variables of age group, sex, race and ethnicity, 
                charges filed, and release condition;
                    ``(C) provide the average time to release from jail 
                for defendants who are released pretrial, broken down 
                by demographic variables of age group, sex, race and 
                ethnicity, disability, charges filed, and release 
                condition;
                    ``(D) provide the percentage of defendants who are 
                detained for the entire duration of the pretrial phase 
                of their case, broken down by demographic variables of 
                age group, sex, race and ethnicity, disability, charges 
                filed, and reason for detention;
                    ``(E) provide the average duration of the period 
                defendants who are not released are in custody in a 
                prison or jail before the disposition of their case, 
                broken down by demographic variables of age group, sex, 
                race and ethnicity, disability, charges filed, and 
                reason for detention;
                    ``(F) provide the percentage of defendants released 
                from custody before trial who appeared at all court 
                appearances for which the court expected them to appear 
                during the pretrial phase of their case, broken down by 
                demographic variables of age group, sex, race and 
                ethnicity, disability, charges filed, and release 
                condition;
                    ``(G) provide the percentage of defendants released 
                from custody before trial who were not arrested for or 
                charged with a new crime during the pretrial phase of 
                their case, broken down by demographic variables of age 
                group, sex, race and ethnicity, disability, charges 
                filed, and release condition;
                    ``(H) provide data on the access of defendants to 
                counsel, including the number of counsel appointments 
                and the outcomes of pretrial release decisions in all 
                cases where counsel was provided; and
                    ``(I) provide data on the most serious offense with 
                which defendants were charged and the classification of 
                the offense.
    ``(e) Allocation of Funds.--
            ``(1) In general.--For fiscal year 2021, of the amounts 
        appropriated to the Office, the Assistant Attorney General 
        shall use $15,000,000 to carry out this part.
            ``(2) Limitations; equitable distribution.--
                    ``(A) Limitations.--Of the amount made available to 
                carry out this section in any fiscal year--
                            ``(i) not more than 2 percent may be used 
                        by the Assistant Attorney General for salaries 
                        and administrative expenses; and
                            ``(ii) not more than 25 percent may be used 
                        for technical assistance, training, and 
                        evaluation.
                    ``(B) Equitable distribution.--The Assistant 
                Attorney General shall ensure that grants awarded under 
                this section are equitably distributed among the 
                geographical regions and between urban and rural 
                populations, including Indian Tribes, until all funds 
                made available are expended, consistent with the 
                objective of reducing recidivism among criminal 
                offenders.
    ``(f) Reallocation of Appropriations.--A recipient of a grant under 
subsection (a) shall return to the Assistant Attorney General any 
amounts received under a grant under subsection (a) that are not 
expended for a purpose described in this section.
    ``(g) Ability to Pay Determination.--
            ``(1) In general.--A recipient of a grant under subsection 
        (a) may only impose a fee or fine in a criminal proceeding if a 
        court makes a written determination that the defendant has 
        sufficient resources or income to pay all or part of the fee, 
        fine and costs. In making that determination, the court shall 
        consider whether the defendant qualifies for a public defender 
        or appointed counsel.
            ``(2) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) The term `fees'--
                            ``(i) means monetary fees that are imposed 
                        for the costs of fine surcharges or court 
                        administrative fees; and
                            ``(ii) includes additional late fees, 
                        payment-plan fees, interest added if an 
                        individual is unable to pay a fine in its 
                        entirety, collection fees, and any additional 
                        amounts that do not include the fine.
                    ``(B) The term `fines' means monetary fines imposed 
                as punishment.

``SEC. 3052. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this part--
            ``(1) the term `domestic violence' means a pattern of 
        behavior involving the use or attempted use of physical, 
        sexual, verbal, emotional, economic, or technological abuse or 
        any other coercive behavior committed, enabled, or solicited to 
        gain or maintain power and control over a victim, by a person 
        who--
                    ``(A) is a current or former spouse or dating 
                partner of the victim, or other person similarly 
                situated to a spouse of the victim under the family or 
                domestic violence laws of the jurisdiction;
                    ``(B) is cohabitating with or has cohabitated with 
                the victim as a spouse or dating partner, or other 
                person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim 
                under the family or domestic violence laws of the 
                jurisdiction;
                    ``(C) shares a child in common with the victim;
                    ``(D) is an adult family member of, or paid or 
                nonpaid caregiver for, a victim aged 50 or older or an 
                adult victim with disabilities; or
                    ``(E) commits acts against a youth or adult victim 
                who is protected from those acts under the family or 
                domestic violence laws of the jurisdiction.
            ``(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 organization;
                    ``(C) a State or Tribal court system;
                    ``(D) a unit of local government; and
                    ``(E) an Indian Tribe;
            ``(3) the term `proven data outcomes', with respect to 
        supervision of the conditions of pretrial release, means 
        intervention programs and supervision policies, procedures, 
        programs, and practices that use data to identify the least 
        restrictive conditions necessary to provide reasonable 
        assurance that the individual does not pose a high risk of 
        intentional avoidance of prosecution or of seriously physically 
        harming another reasonably identifiable person during the 
        adjudication period;
            ``(4) the term `least restrictive conditions'--
                    ``(A) includes court date notifications by phone 
                call, letter, postcard, text message, or in-person 
                reminder or another nonrestrictive pretrial supervisory 
                condition; and
                    ``(B) does not include a condition that imposes 
                additional financial obligations on the defendant, 
                including charging the defendant for implementation of 
                the conditions;
            ``(5) the term `misdemeanor crime of stalking' means an 
        offense that--
                    ``(A) is a misdemeanor crime of stalking under 
                Federal, State, Tribal, or municipal law; and
                    ``(B) is a course of harassment, intimidation, or 
                surveillance of another person that--
                            ``(i) places that person in reasonable fear 
                        of material harm to the health or safety of--
                                    ``(I) that person;
                                    ``(II) an immediate family member 
                                (as defined in section 115 of title 18, 
                                United States Code) of that person;
                                    ``(III) a household member of that 
                                person; or
                                    ``(IV) a spouse or intimate partner 
                                of that person; or
                            ``(ii) causes, attempts to cause, or would 
                        reasonably be expected to cause emotional 
                        distress to a person described in items 
                        subclauses (I) through (IV) of clause (i);
            ``(6) the term `misdemeanor hate crime' means an offense 
        that--
                    ``(A) is a misdemeanor under Federal, State, or 
                tribal law;
                    ``(B) has, as an element, that the conduct of the 
                offender was motivated by hate or bias because of the 
                actual or perceived race, color, religion, national 
                origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or 
                disability of any person; and
                    ``(C) involves the use or attempted use of physical 
                force, the threatened use of a deadly weapon, or other 
                credible threat to the physical safety of any person;
            ``(7) the term `money bail' means a secured monetary 
        obligation that is imposed by a court as a condition of the 
        initial release of a defendant or ongoing court conditions of 
        release before the trial or adjudication of the criminal 
        charges pending against the defendant;
            ``(8) the term `reason for detention' means whether a 
        defendant was held without bond, held on another charge, or 
        held for another reason;
            ``(9) the term `release condition' means whether a 
        defendant was released--
                    ``(A) based on nonfinancial, personal recognizance;
                    ``(B) with pretrial supervision;
                    ``(C) with an unsecured financial obligation;
                    ``(D) with a secured financial obligation; or
                    ``(E) with a combination of the conditions 
                described in subparagraphs (A) through (D); and
            ``(10) the term `State, local, or Tribal court system' 
        means the court, court system, administrative offices of the 
        courts, or similarly situated agency of a State, unit of local 
        government, or Indian Tribe.''.
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