Posted: November 25, 2020
Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed January 9, 2021
CJA Appendix J. Ability-to-Pay Matrix (AMEND). In response to House Bill 206, the Uniform Fine and Bail Schedule has been replaced by the Uniform Fine Schedule and the Ability-to-Pay Matrix. The Ability-to-Pay Matrix provides recommended monetary bail amounts using the poverty guidelines and an individual’s risk of failing to appear in court. Setting monetary bail is a highly fact dependent decision. The recommended amounts do not reflect the maximum amount a judge may order. Judges should ordinarily impose monetary bail based on a person’s ability-to-pay. However, judges continue to have the same discretion to deviate from the recommended amounts as they had under the Uniform Fine and Bail Schedule, provided judges conduct an individualized assessment of ability-to-pay and risk.
I am a concerned community member in Salt Lake County. The new Ability to Pay (ATP) matrix shows Utah’s awareness of many defendant’s inability to pay bail, but it is not enough. Cash bail remains an unjust method to incentivize court appearance, and cash bail should be abolished entirely. Until there is an end to money bail in Utah, we must continue to denounce the inadequacy of reforms like the ATP matrix to actually assist indigent defendants.
The recommended bail amount according to the ATP matrix is calculated based on two factors: #1 the defendant’s annual income in relation to the poverty level, and #2 the defendants FTA Risk Score. Both of these metrics are flawed data sources to determine someone’s ability to pay bail.
First, the Utah court system does not, as of today, have infrastructure in place to assess someone’s annual income prior to their initial appearance. When the judge does not have access to annual income information, the defendant becomes responsible to present their income information to the judge. Defendants are often unable to communicate with their public defender prior to the initial appearance, and these appearances are reported to be quite confusing and overwhelming, especially for first time offenders. The courts are obligated to remove this burden from the defendant. To provide the judge with accurate annual income information for defendants prior to the initial appearance is a large data infrastructure undertaking that would likely cost money and labor to the State. Instead, we argue that the ATP matrix itself is too simplistic for its intended purpose – that is, to incentivize further court appearances. The easiest, cheapest solution is to abolish cash bail and unsecured bonds altogether.
Second, the FTA Risk Score calculation is embedded with several harmful assumptions. The risk score is increased if the defendant has failed to appear at a court hearing within the last two years, failed to appear prior to two years ago, or if they have any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. These metrics are not a measure of flight risk. A person with a high FTA risk score is assumed to have intentionally skipped court or jumped bail, but the data show that this is rarely the case. The largest study on court appearances to date, conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics between 1990 and 2004 in 40 of the 75 largest U.S. counties, found that more than three quarters of defendants showed up for all of their court dates. Those that missed court have reported emergency incidents, inability to skip work or arrange childcare, or simply forgot that they are required to appear. The ATP matrix punishes all missed court dates with higher recommended bail amounts, and it therefore systematically perpetuates harm especially against poor communities of color in Utah. Additionally, the FTA risk score is increased for any prior charges. We know that marginalized communities are over-policed and disproportionately charged with misdemeanors and felonies (https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/un-report-on-racial-disparities/), and therefore, the ATP matrix only reinforces these systemic, racialized biases and further punishes our most vulnerable communities.
The ATP matrix claims to be more equitable for impoverished Utahns, but Utahns will not see justice until cash bail and risk assessment tools are abandoned by the courts. Utah courts will save costs by abolishing cash bail and risk assessments, and instead offering to provide services to defendants that will help them appear in court. These services might include free childcare, abolition of bench warrants for FTAs, free court date text reminders, and remote video courtrooms.
Thank you for your sincere consideration of this comment.
I would like to add this public comment to emphasize my support for the following statement by Decarcerate Utah with regard to HB206:
“Decarcerate Utah would like to express our concerns with HB206 and suggest crucial steps that the state must take to ensure true community safety.
HB206 recommends that judges use the “ability to pay matrix” (which determines a bail amount based on income and past “failure-to-appear” incidents) in determining bail amounts. Although we appreciate the recognition that it is unethical to keep a legally innocent person in jail simply because they cannot afford to leave, this bill essentially does nothing to resolve this harm. First, judges are in no way obligated to follow the matrix or the suggestion of a $5000 maximum bail, which then continues the same historical discrimination against marginalized and impoverished communities based on a judge’s “discretion”. Second, the ability-to-pay matrix does not consider the systemic barriers and lack of resources which underlie defendants’ difficulties in attending their court dates. This oversight continues to punish, rather than assist defendants in reappearance, and disproportionately impacts victims of systemic oppression.
Instead of trying to reform a system which is inherently corrupt, we should follow LA County’s lead and abolish cash bail entirely. The vast majority of defendants want to make it to their scheduled court dates, but are met with systemic barriers that stop them. A defendant designated as high risk by the ability to pay matrix is assumed to have intentionally skipped court or jumped bail in the past, but the data show that this is rarely the case. The largest study on court appearances to date, conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics between 1990 and 2004 in 40 of the 75 largest U.S. counties, found that more than three quarters of defendants showed up for all of their court dates. Those that missed court reported emergency incidents, inability to skip work or arrange childcare, or simply forgot that they were required to appear. When we acknowledge that most crime and inability to make it to court appearances is the result of systemic barriers like lack of access to communication technologies (including internet access, translation barriers, etc.), reliable transportation, medical and mental health care, housing insecurity, child-care, food/water, etc., then we can see that guaranteeing justice and safety is not about locking people in cages because they are poor, but providing these resources in the community to actually heal harm at its source. If the courts were interested in actually helping people, they would address these systemic barriers and provide resources to individuals outside of jail.
Utah taxpayers are already paying to provide basic resources (shelter, food, medical care, etc.) to pre-trial detention inmates in jail, so why not provide these resources within the community to support rehabilitation and address the existing community level barriers, rather than cause increased harm and recidivism as a result of horrific jail conditions? Courts could also support defendant appearances by taking simple steps like sending text reminders about scheduled court appointments, which has been shown to increase court appearances to more than 95% (https://pretrialrisk.com/the-danger/criminal-justice-bias/failures-to-appear/). Decarcerate Utah also recommends increased options for virtual court hearings, accommodations for technological difficulties, and flexible schedules and/or options for rescheduling hearings. Giving defendants the ability to reschedule when emergencies of poverty arise, compensating them for unpaid leave, and providing child-care for court appointments would be much more effective in helping people show up to court, and also reduce the harm associated with pre-trial detention.
Researchers have found that the longer low-risk individuals are held in jail, the more likely they are to engage in criminal activity upon release (https://nicic.gov/hidden-costs-pretrial-detention). We know that harm begets more harm, so cash bail detention is certainly not keeping our communities safer. The ability-to-pay matrix does not resolve this harm because it continues to allow for the criminalization and punishment of the poor with toothless suggestions for “lower bail” and a reification of the cash bail system as an effective crime deterrent.
HB206 does not meet the justice and safety needs of our community because it further strengthens the false validity of the cash bail system by reiterating that cash bail can be effective and just, when we know these claims are false. If HB206 mandated that an individual must be able to reasonably afford their bail, then we would have no inmates held on bail for pre-trial detention. HB206 clearly has not accomplished this, and so we continue to have criminalization of the poor through cash bail. The only way to “reform” cash bail is to abolish it. We demand true community safety which can only be achieved through community support, access to basic resources, restorative justice models, and an end to the current profit driven criminal justice system.”
I am a concerned community member in Salt Lake County and am submitting this comment to bring attention to the shortcomings of the Ability-to-Pay (ATP) Matrix.
The ATP matrix relies on a defendant’s income and their FTA risk score. It is great that Utah courts are finally considering the devastating impact that cash bail has on low-income defendants. Unfortunately, the ATP matrix’s reliance on the FTA risk score renders the matrix a harmful tool for continued oppression of Utah’s Black and Brown, poor, immigrant, LGBTQ, and otherwise marginalized communities.
How can we calculate “failure to appear” without accounting for the personal and structural conditions that cause a person to miss court? The courts should provide services to help defendants appear in court, not punish them for failing to do so by setting inflated bail amounts.
Utah’s FTA risk score increases for any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. Research has shown that marginalized communities are much more likely to be targeted by police and criminally charged. The ATP matrix reinforces and further punishes according to the classist and racist biases found in Utah’s criminal justice system.
I call on the courts to consider abolishing cash bail and the FTA risk assessment altogether. I urge the courts to expand Pretrial Services to help defendants through the court system.
I am a community member in Salt Lake County and am submitting this comment to bring attention to the shortcomings of the Ability-to-Pay (ATP) Matrix.
The ATP matrix relies on a defendant’s income and their FTA risk score. I applaud the Utah courts considering the devastating impact that cash bail has on low-income defendants. Unfortunately, the ATP matrix’s reliance on the FTA risk score renders the matrix a harmful tool for marginalized communities.
How can we calculate “failure to appear” without accounting for the personal and structural conditions that cause a person to miss court? The courts should provide services to help defendants appear in court, not punish them for failing to do so by setting inflated bail amounts.
Utah’s FTA risk score increases for any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. Research has shown that marginalized communities are much more likely to be targeted by police and criminally charged. The ATP matrix reinforces and further punishes according to the common biases found in Utah’s criminal justice system.
Please consider abolishing cash bail and the FTA risk assessment altogether and expand Pretrial Services to help defendants through the court system.
I’m commenting to support Decarcerate Utah regarding HB206, which is at its core a racist, classist piece of legislation that will only further marginalize communities that are already overpoliced and discriminated against. The ability-to-pay matrix parades as an objective/scientific guide to “make things easier” for judges, but it is absolutely reductive and baseless, ignoring circumstantial and systemic contexts we all know comprise a harsher reality for Black/Brown and/or poor members of our community.
Instead of having a business-as-usual, originality mindset when it comes to making laws that hurt people, you can take quantifiable steps to remedy the challenges that the ability-to-pay matrix claims to address but only exacerbates:
1. Set up text reminder technology to remind people about scheduled court appointments—this has been shown to increase court appearances to more than 95% (https://pretrialrisk.com/the-danger/criminal-justice-bias/failures-to-appear/)
2. Increase options for virtual court hearings, accommodations for technological difficulties and flexible schedules
3. Give defendants the ability to reschedule when emergencies of poverty arise, compensate them for unpaid leave and provide child care for court appointments
4. would be much more effective in helping people show up to court, and also reduce the harm associated with pre-trial detention.
These suggestions would be much more effective in helping people show up to court and reduce the harm associated with pre-trial detention. Please consider these ideas. Utah taxpayers already pay to provide basic resources (shelter, food, medical care, etc.) to pre-trial detention inmates in jail, so why not provide these resources within the community to support rehabilitation and address the existing community level barriers, rather than cause increased harm and recidivism as a result of horrific jail conditions? We must stop criminalizing the impoverished community. HB206 feeds the false validity that cash bail can be effective and just, when we know empirically that these claims are statistically untrue. The only way to “reform” cash bail is to abolish it. We yearn for true community safety, which can only be achieved through community support, access to basic resources, restorative justice models and an end to the current profit-driven criminal justice system.
Thank you for considering my comments.
I am a concerned community member in Salt Lake County and am submitting this comment to bring attention to the shortcomings of the Ability-to-Pay (ATP) Matrix.
The ATP matrix relies on a defendant’s income and their FTA risk score. It is great that Utah courts are finally considering the devastating impact that cash bail has on low-income defendants. Unfortunately, the ATP matrix’s reliance on the FTA risk score renders the matrix a harmful tool for continued oppression of Utah’s Black and Brown, poor, immigrant, LGBTQ, and otherwise marginalized communities.
How can we calculate “failure to appear” without accounting for the personal and structural conditions that cause a person to miss court? The courts should provide services to help defendants appear in court, not punish them for failing to do so by setting inflated bail amounts.
Utah’s FTA risk score increases for any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. Research has shown that marginalized communities are much more likely to be targeted by police and criminally charged. The ATP matrix reinforces and further punishes according to the classist and racist biases found in Utah’s criminal justice system.
I call on the courts to consider abolishing cash bail and the FTA risk assessment altogether. I urge the courts to expand Pretrial Services to help defendants through the court system.
Hi, I am a community member in Salt Lake County and am submitting this comment to bring attention to the shortcomings of the Ability-to-Pay (ATP) Matrix.
The ATP matrix relies on a defendant’s income and their FTA risk score. It is great that Utah courts are finally considering the devastating impact that cash bail has on low-income defendants. Unfortunately, the ATP matrix’s reliance on the FTA risk score renders the matrix a harmful tool for continued oppression of Utah’s Black and Brown, poor, immigrant, LGBTQ, and otherwise marginalized communities.
How can we calculate “failure to appear” without accounting for the personal and structural conditions that cause a person to miss court? The courts should provide services to help defendants appear in court, not punish them for failing to do so by setting inflated bail amounts.
Utah’s FTA risk score increases for any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. Research has shown that marginalized communities are much more likely to be targeted by police and criminally charged. The ATP matrix reinforces and further punishes according to the classist and racist biases found in Utah’s criminal justice system.
I call on the courts to consider abolishing cash bail and the FTA risk assessment altogether. I urge the courts to expand Pretrial Services to help defendants through the court system.
While it’s great that Utah courts are finally considering the devastating impact that cash bail has on low-income defendants, ATP matrix’s reliance on the FTA risk score renders the matrix a harmful tool for continued oppression of Utah’s Black and Brown, poor, immigrant, LGBTQ, and otherwise marginalized communities.
There are lots of reasons people would fail to appear in court, many of which are due to systemic and personal conditions that put marginalized communities at a disadvantage. The courts should provide services to help defendants appear in court, not punish them for failing to do so by setting inflated bail amounts.
Utah’s FTA risk score increases for any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. Research has shown that marginalized communities are much more likely to be targeted by police and criminally charged. The ATP matrix reinforces and further punishes according to the classist and racist biases found in Utah’s criminal justice system.
I call on the courts to consider abolishing cash bail, like was done in LA County, and the FTA risk assessment altogether. I urge the courts to expand Pretrial Services to help defendants through the court system.
I am a concerned community member in Salt Lake County and am submitting this comment to bring attention to the shortcomings of the Ability-to-Pay (ATP) Matrix.
The ATP matrix relies on a defendant’s income and their FTA risk score. It is great that Utah courts are finally considering the devastating impact that cash bail has on low-income defendants. Unfortunately, the ATP matrix’s reliance on the FTA risk score renders the matrix a harmful tool for continued oppression of Utah’s Black and Brown, poor, immigrant, LGBTQ, and otherwise marginalized communities.
How can we calculate “failure to appear” without accounting for the personal and structural conditions that cause a person to miss court? The courts should provide services to help defendants appear in court, not punish them for failing to do so by setting inflated bail amounts.
Utah’s FTA risk score increases for any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. Research has shown that marginalized communities are much more likely to be targeted by police and criminally charged. The ATP matrix reinforces and further punishes according to the classist and racist biases found in Utah’s criminal justice system.
I ask the courts to consider abolishing cash bail and the FTA risk assessment altogether. I urge the courts to expand Pretrial Services to help defendants through the court system.
Thank you for considering my comments.
As a resident of Utah County, I would like to voice my concerns about the proposed Ability-to-Pay (ATP) Matrix. While I’m very happy that as a state we are recognizing the damage the bail system has had on many low-income people, the ATP matrix’s reliance on the FTA risk score renders the matrix a harmful tool for continued oppression of Utah’s Black and Brown, poor, immigrant, LGBTQ, and otherwise marginalized communities.
If we do not take into account the structural and individual conditions that cause a person to miss court, our bail system will continue to punish poverty. The courts should provide services to help defendants appear in court, not punish them for failing to do so by setting inflated bail amounts.
Utah’s FTA risk score increases for any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. Research has shown that marginalized communities are much more likely to be targeted by police and criminally charged. The ATP matrix reinforces and further punishes according to the classist and racist biases found in Utah’s criminal justice system.
A better solution would be to consider abolishing cash bail and the FTA risk assessment altogether. I urge the courts to expand Pretrial Services to help defendants through the court system.
I would like to add this public comment to emphasize my support for the following statement by Decarcerate Utah with regard to HB206:
“Decarcerate Utah would like to express our concerns with HB206 and suggest crucial steps that the state must take to ensure true community safety.
HB206 recommends that judges use the “ability to pay matrix” (which determines a bail amount based on income and past “failure-to-appear” incidents) in determining bail amounts. Although we appreciate the recognition that it is unethical to keep a legally innocent person in jail simply because they cannot afford to leave, this bill essentially does nothing to resolve this harm. First, judges are in no way obligated to follow the matrix or the suggestion of a $5000 maximum bail, which then continues the same historical discrimination against marginalized and impoverished communities based on a judge’s “discretion”. Second, the ability-to-pay matrix does not consider the systemic barriers and lack of resources which underlie defendants’ difficulties in attending their court dates. This oversight continues to punish, rather than assist defendants in reappearance, and disproportionately impacts victims of systemic oppression.
Instead of trying to reform a system which is inherently corrupt, we should follow LA County’s lead and abolish cash bail entirely. The vast majority of defendants want to make it to their scheduled court dates, but are met with systemic barriers that stop them. A defendant designated as high risk by the ability to pay matrix is assumed to have intentionally skipped court or jumped bail in the past, but the data show that this is rarely the case. The largest study on court appearances to date, conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics between 1990 and 2004 in 40 of the 75 largest U.S. counties, found that more than three quarters of defendants showed up for all of their court dates. Those that missed court reported emergency incidents, inability to skip work or arrange childcare, or simply forgot that they were required to appear. When we acknowledge that most crime and inability to make it to court appearances is the result of systemic barriers like lack of access to communication technologies (including internet access, translation barriers, etc.), reliable transportation, medical and mental health care, housing insecurity, child-care, food/water, etc., then we can see that guaranteeing justice and safety is not about locking people in cages because they are poor, but providing these resources in the community to actually heal harm at its source. If the courts were interested in actually helping people, they would address these systemic barriers and provide resources to individuals outside of jail.
Utah taxpayers are already paying to provide basic resources (shelter, food, medical care, etc.) to pre-trial detention inmates in jail, so why not provide these resources within the community to support rehabilitation and address the existing community level barriers, rather than cause increased harm and recidivism as a result of horrific jail conditions? Courts could also support defendant appearances by taking simple steps like sending text reminders about scheduled court appointments, which has been shown to increase court appearances to more than 95% (https://pretrialrisk.com/the-danger/criminal-justice-bias/failures-to-appear/). Decarcerate Utah also recommends increased options for virtual court hearings, accommodations for technological difficulties, and flexible schedules and/or options for rescheduling hearings. Giving defendants the ability to reschedule when emergencies of poverty arise, compensating them for unpaid leave, and providing child-care for court appointments would be much more effective in helping people show up to court, and also reduce the harm associated with pre-trial detention.
Researchers have found that the longer low-risk individuals are held in jail, the more likely they are to engage in criminal activity upon release (https://nicic.gov/hidden-costs-pretrial-detention). We know that harm begets more harm, so cash bail detention is certainly not keeping our communities safer. The ability-to-pay matrix does not resolve this harm because it continues to allow for the criminalization and punishment of the poor with toothless suggestions for “lower bail” and a reification of the cash bail system as an effective crime deterrent.
HB206 does not meet the justice and safety needs of our community because it further strengthens the false validity of the cash bail system by reiterating that cash bail can be effective and just, when we know these claims are false. If HB206 mandated that an individual must be able to reasonably afford their bail, then we would have no inmates held on bail for pre-trial detention. HB206 clearly has not accomplished this, and so we continue to have criminalization of the poor through cash bail. The only way to “reform” cash bail is to abolish it. We demand true community safety which can only be achieved through community support, access to basic resources, restorative justice models, and an end to the current profit driven criminal justice system.”
The ATP matrix claims to be more equitable for impoverished Utahns, but Utahns will not see justice until cash bail is abandoned by the courts. Utah courts will save costs by abolishing cash bail, and instead offering to provide services to defendants that will help them appear in court. These services might include free childcare, abolition of bench warrants for FTAs, free court date text reminders, and remote video courtrooms, an especially important consideration given the pandemic numbers in Utah. Beyond that, cash bail, no matter how “equitable” the bail amount may be, indicates that people do not need to be held before sentencing. Cash bail allows wealthy people to buy freedom. Individuals who cannot afford to pay bail are placed in a dangerous situation given the pandemic. Social distancing is not possible in jail. Holding people unnecessarily in a pandemic is an issue public health, and should be avoided whenever possible as infection rates in jails and prisons are much higher than in the general population
Cash bail, no matter how “equitable” the bail amount may be, indicates that people do not need to be held before sentencing. Cash bail allows wealthy people to buy freedom. Individuals who cannot afford to pay bail are placed in a dangerous situation given the pandemic. Social distancing is not possible in jail. Holding people unnecessarily in a pandemic is an issue public health, and should be avoided whenever possible as infection rates in jails and prisons are much higher than in the general population
End cash bail. This is a punishment that affects the poorest of us who are already struggling and is not a problem for rich ‘criminals’. Unfair and unjust, and a scam.
I live in Salt Lake County and I am very concerned about continuing to have cash bail in Utah. How likely a person is to “fail to appear” is calculated in a discriminatory way, as it increases for prior charges (not convictions, just charges). We know from research that marginalized communities are more likely to be targeted by law enforcement and thereby face criminal charges, which means that it is members of these marginalized communities who will have to pay higher bail.
However, if cash bail is abolished, we don’t even have to think about the details of what to charge someone! We know from research that the longer low-risk folks are held in jail, the more likely they are to engage in criminal activity after they are released, so what purpose does cash bail serve? It’s not making communities any safer.
The courts should abolish cash bail and the “failure to appear” risk assessment, and instead expand pretrial services to help defendants make their court dates.
I would like to express my concerns with HB206 and how it will be enacted to make sure that this community is working toward a more holistic and transformative sense of community safety.
Currently money bail is being arbitrarily used by judges as a form of ransom that keeps people locked up in a dangerous environment. The ability to pay matrix is supposed to take into account a person’s income and failure to appear risk, but these measurements are incoherently and discretionally used to determine the amount of bail to set. Judges are not obligated to follow this matrix or the suggestion of the $5,000 max bail cap, which perpetuates racial and other discriminations against our marginalized and poor communities of Utah. This oversight continues to punish, rather than assist defendants in appearance or rehabilitate an individual, and disproportionately impacts victims of systemic oppression.
I would like to see us follow the lead of other counties that have abolished cash bail in its entirety. There are many reasons people may miss a court date, and setting a high bail amount does not resolve any of them. We must acknowledge that most crimes and inability to appear in court are the results of systemic barriers like lack of access to communication technologies (internet access, translation barriers, etc), reliable transportation, child care, time missed from work, quality healthcare including mental health, housing insecurity, and more.
We should instead shift our focus to providing resources in the community to create safer conditions of living. If the courts were interested in actually helping people, they would address these systemic barriers and provide resources to individuals outside of jail. Utah taxpayers are already paying to provide basic resources (shelter, food, medical care, etc.) to pre-trial detention inmates in jail, so why not provide these resources within the community to support rehabilitation and address the existing community level barriers, rather than cause increased harm and recidivism as a result of horrific jail conditions? Giving defendants the ability to reschedule when emergencies of poverty arise, compensating them for unpaid leave, and providing child-care for court appointments would be much more effective in helping people show up to court, and also reduce the harm associated with pre-trial detention.
We know that harm begets more harm, so cash bail detention is certainly not keeping our communities safer. The ability-to-pay matrix does not resolve this harm because it continues to allow for the criminalization and punishment of the poor with toothless suggestions for “lower bail” and a reification of the cash bail system as an effective crime deterrent.
HB206 does not meet the justice and safety needs of our community because it further strengthens the false validity of the cash bail system by reiterating that cash bail can be effective and just, when we know these claims are false. The only way to resolve the harms created by cash bail is to completely eliminate and abolish it.
I am a resident of Salt Lake County and I believe there are problems with the Ability-to-Pay (ATP) Matrix.
While I appreciate that Utah courts are thinking about the impact cash bail has on low-income communities, relying on the FTA risk score means continuing to uphold an unfair system. How can we calculate “failure to appear” without accounting for the structural conditions that wouldn’t allow them to appear? Rather than punishing folks who cannot appear for reasons beyond their control, the court should figure out a way to provide assistance, not penalty.
In addition, penalizing people for previous misdemeanor or felony charges completely ignores the structure of the criminal justice system in Utah that targets marginalized communities.
There is no justice within a cash bail system. The courts should abolish cash bail and the Failure to Appear system. The courts should expand pretrial services and the help they can provide to defendants going through the court system.
No one who could afford their bail would choose to sit in jail instead, so any true reform to make cash bail cease to be primarily a way of discriminatorily jailing the poor without due process would necessarily abolish pre-trial detention. Additionally, most of the people who don’t show up for their court appointments had some barrier in place to doing so. For instance, I’ve talked to people living on the streets who have non-appearances on their records simply because they have no way to receive letters from the court. Punitive measures won’t help that, we need constructive solutions to our communities’ problems. A record of non-appearances when someone had insurmountable barriers to attending court isn’t a “flight risk”.
I am a citizen of Salt Lake County and am writing regarding the proposed Ability To Pay (ATP) matrix.
While I am glad that we are working towards reform and hopefully an end to the cash bail system that inhumanely punishes people for being low-wealth, the proposed matrix is not the way to accomplish this. A person with a high Failure to Appear (FTA) risk score is assumed to have intentionally skipped court or jumped bail, but the data show that this is rarely the case. The largest study on court appearances to date, conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics between 1990 and 2004 in 40 of the 75 largest U.S. counties, found that more than three quarters of defendants showed up for all of their court dates. Those that missed court have reported emergency incidents, inability to skip work or arrange childcare, or simply forgot that they are required to appear. This should not be used as the basis for bail amounts.
The Ability-to-Pay Matrix being proposed would increase bail amounts for over-policed, marginalized communities by using past charges (not convictions) as a factor in the amount of bail owed. This reinforces systemic racism and classism.
The concept of money bail is unjust, racist, classist, and puts people in unnecessary danger. This ATP matrix does not fix that.
Hello! I’m a Salt Lake County resident and wanted to add this public comment to emphasize my support for the following statement by Decarcerate Utah with regard to HB206:
“Instead of trying to reform a system which is inherently corrupt, we should follow LA County’s lead and abolish cash bail entirely. The vast majority of defendants want to make it to their scheduled court dates, but are met with systemic barriers that stop them. A defendant designated as high risk by the ability to pay matrix is assumed to have intentionally skipped court or jumped bail in the past, but the data show that this is rarely the case. The largest study on court appearances to date, conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics between 1990 and 2004 in 40 of the 75 largest U.S. counties, found that more than three quarters of defendants showed up for all of their court dates. Those that missed court reported emergency incidents, inability to skip work or arrange childcare, or simply forgot that they were required to appear. When we acknowledge that most crime and inability to make it to court appearances is the result of systemic barriers like lack of access to communication technologies (including internet access, translation barriers, etc.), reliable transportation, medical and mental health care, housing insecurity, child-care, food/water, etc., then we can see that guaranteeing justice and safety is not about locking people in cages because they are poor, but providing these resources in the community to actually heal harm at its source. If the courts were interested in actually helping people, they would address these systemic barriers and provide resources to individuals outside of jail.”
End cash bail!
Instead of trying to reform a system which is inherently corrupt, we should follow LA County’s lead and abolish cash bail entirely. The vast majority of defendants want to make it to their scheduled court dates, but are met with systemic barriers that stop them. A defendant designated as high risk by the ability to pay matrix is assumed to have intentionally skipped court or jumped bail in the past, but the data show that this is rarely the case. The largest study on court appearances to date, conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics between 1990 and 2004 in 40 of the 75 largest U.S. counties, found that more than three quarters of defendants showed up for all of their court dates. Those that missed court reported emergency incidents, inability to skip work or arrange childcare, or simply forgot that they were required to appear. When we acknowledge that most crime and inability to make it to court appearances is the result of systemic barriers like lack of access to communication technologies (including internet access, translation barriers, etc.), reliable transportation, medical and mental health care, housing insecurity, child-care, food/water, etc., then we can see that guaranteeing justice and safety is not about locking people in cages because they are poor, but providing these resources in the community to actually heal harm at its source. If the courts were interested in actually helping people, they would address these systemic barriers and provide resources to individuals outside of jail.
Utah taxpayers are already paying to provide basic resources (shelter, food, medical care, etc.) to pre-trial detention inmates in jail, so why not provide these resources within the community to support rehabilitation and address the existing community level barriers, rather than cause increased harm and recidivism as a result of horrific jail conditions? Courts could also support defendant appearances by taking simple steps like sending text reminders about scheduled court appointments, which has been shown to increase court appearances to more than 95% (https://pretrialrisk.com/the-danger/criminal-justice-bias/failures-to-appear/). Decarcerate Utah also recommends increased options for virtual court hearings, accommodations for technological difficulties, and flexible schedules and/or options for rescheduling hearings. Giving defendants the ability to reschedule when emergencies of poverty arise, compensating them for unpaid leave, and providing child-care for court appointments would be much more effective in helping people show up to court, and also reduce the harm associated with pre-trial detention.
Researchers have found that the longer low-risk individuals are held in jail, the more likely they are to engage in criminal activity upon release (https://nicic.gov/hidden-costs-pretrial-detention). We know that harm begets more harm, so cash bail detention is certainly not keeping our communities safer. The ability-to-pay matrix does not resolve this harm because it continues to allow for the criminalization and punishment of the poor with toothless suggestions for “lower bail” and a reification of the cash bail system as an effective crime deterrent.
HB206 does not meet the justice and safety needs of our community because it further strengthens the false validity of the cash bail system by reiterating that cash bail can be effective and just, when we know these claims are false. If HB206 mandated that an individual must be able to reasonably afford their bail, then we would have no inmates held on bail for pre-trial detention. HB206 clearly has not accomplished this, and so we continue to have criminalization of the poor through cash bail. The only way to “reform” cash bail is to abolish it. We demand true community safety which can only be achieved through community support, access to basic resources, restorative justice models, and an end to the current profit driven criminal justice system.
Hi! My name is Sara and I’m a South Salt Lake resident.
The ATP matrix relies on a defendant’s income and their FTA risk score. It is great that Utah courts are finally considering the devastating impact that cash bail has on low-income defendants. Unfortunately, the ATP matrix’s reliance on the FTA risk score renders the matrix a harmful tool for continued oppression of Utah’s Black and Brown, poor, immigrant, LGBTQ, and otherwise marginalized communities.
How can we calculate “failure to appear” without accounting for the personal and structural conditions that cause a person to miss court? The courts should provide services to help defendants appear in court, not punish them for failing to do so by setting inflated bail amounts.
Utah’s FTA risk score increases for any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. Research has shown that marginalized communities are much more likely to be targeted by police and criminally charged. The ATP matrix reinforces and further punishes according to the classist and racist biases found in Utah’s criminal justice system.
I call on the courts to consider abolishing cash bail and the FTA risk assessment altogether. I urge the courts to expand Pretrial Services to help defendants through the court system.
I am a concerned community member in Salt Lake County who wants to speak out against the new Ability to Pay matrix, which may show Utah’s awareness of many defendant’s inability to pay bail, but it nowhere near enough. Cash is an inherently unjust and racist system and cash bail must be abolished entirely. Until there is an end to money bail in Utah, I will continue to denounce and critique the inadequacy of reforms like the ATP matrix.
The recommended bail amount according to the ATP matrix is calculated based on two factors: #1 the defendant’s annual income in relation to the poverty level, and #2 the defendants FTA Risk Score. Both of these metrics are flawed data sources to determine someone’s ability to pay bail.
First, the Utah court system does not, as of today, have infrastructure in place to assess someone’s annual income prior to their initial appearance. When the judge does not have access to annual income information, the defendant becomes responsible to present their income information to the judge. Defendants are often unable to communicate with their public defender prior to the initial appearance, and these appearances are reported to be quite confusing and overwhelming, especially for first time offenders. The courts are obligated to remove this burden from the defendant. To provide the judge with accurate annual income information for defendants prior to the initial appearance is a large data infrastructure undertaking that would likely cost money and labor to the State. Instead, we argue that the ATP matrix itself is too simplistic for its intended purpose – that is, to incentivize further court appearances. The easiest, cheapest solution is to abolish cash bail and unsecured bonds altogether.
Second, the FTA Risk Score calculation is embedded with several harmful assumptions. The risk score is increased if the defendant has failed to appear at a court hearing within the last two years, failed to appear prior to two years ago, or if they have any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. These metrics are not a measure of flight risk. A person with a high FTA risk score is assumed to have intentionally skipped court or jumped bail, but the data show that this is rarely the case. The largest study on court appearances to date, conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics between 1990 and 2004 in 40 of the 75 largest U.S. counties, found that more than three quarters of defendants showed up for all of their court dates. Those that missed court have reported emergency incidents, inability to skip work or arrange childcare, or simply forgot that they are required to appear. The ATP matrix punishes all missed court dates with higher recommended bail amounts, and it therefore systematically perpetuates harm especially against poor communities of color in Utah. Additionally, the FTA risk score is increased for any prior charges. We know that marginalized communities are over-policed and disproportionately charged with misdemeanors and felonies (https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/un-report-on-racial-disparities/), and therefore, the ATP matrix only reinforces these systemic, racialized biases and further punishes our most vulnerable communities.
The ATP matrix claims to be more equitable for impoverished and poor Utahns, but Utahns will not see justice until cash bail and risk assessment tools are abandoned by the courts. Utah courts will save costs by abolishing cash bail and risk assessments, and instead offering to provide services to defendants that will help them appear in court. These services could include free childcare, abolition of bench warrants for FTAs, free court date text reminders, lyft or public transportation credits, and remote video courtroom options.
Thank you for your consideration of this comment.
I am a resident in Salt Lake County and I’m submitting this comment today to talk about the shortcomings of the Ability-to-Pay (ATP) Matrix.
I believe cash bail is already a harmful tool that affects our most marginalized communities and the ATP matrix further weaponizes this by being dependent on a defendants income and their FTA risk score, or how likely it is that they will appear in court. But how do we calculate “failure to appear” without accounting for the personal and structural conditions that cause a person to miss court? The vast majority of defendants want to make it to their scheduled court dates, but are met with systemic barriers that stop them or make it unable to do so. This system only punishes the defendant rather than incentivizing them. The FTA risk score also increases for any prior charges — and research has shown that marginalized communities are far more likely to be targeted by police and criminally charged — thus directly affecting Utah’s Black, Brown, Indigenous, poor, immigrant and LGBTQ communities.
I urge the courts to expand pretrial services to help defendants through the court system rather than punish them by setting inflated bail amounts. I also call on the courts to abolish the cash bail and FTA risk assessment altogether as it has historically been a harmful tool in keeping people jailed.
I am a concerned community member in Salt Lake County and am submitting this comment to bring attention to the shortcomings of the Ability-to-Pay (ATP) Matrix.
The ATP matrix relies on a defendant’s income and their FTA risk score. It is great that Utah courts are finally considering the devastating impact that cash bail has on low-income defendants. Unfortunately, the ATP matrix’s reliance on the FTA risk score renders the matrix a harmful tool for continued oppression of Utah’s Black and Brown, poor, immigrant, LGBTQ, and otherwise marginalized communities.
How can we calculate “failure to appear” without accounting for the personal and structural conditions that cause a person to miss court? The courts should provide services to help defendants appear in court, not punish them for failing to do so by setting inflated bail amounts.
Utah’s FTA risk score increases for any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. Research has shown that marginalized communities are much more likely to be targeted by police and criminally charged. The ATP matrix reinforces and further punishes according to the classist and racist biases found in Utah’s criminal justice system.
I call on the courts to consider abolishing cash bail and the FTA risk assessment altogether. I urge the courts to expand Pretrial Services to help defendants through the court system.
Hello, I am a concerned community member in Salt Lake County and I’m submitting this comment to bring attention to the shortcomings of the Ability-to-Pay (ATP) Matrix.
The ATP matrix relies on a defendant’s income and their FTA risk score. It is good that Utah courts are finally considering the devastating impact that cash bail has on low-income defendants. Unfortunately, the ATP matrix’s reliance on the FTA risk score renders the matrix a harmful tool for continued oppression of Utah’s Black and Brown, poor, immigrant, LGBTQ, and otherwise marginalized communities.
How can we calculate “failure to appear” without accounting for the personal and structural conditions that cause a person to miss court? The courts should provide services to help defendants appear in court, not punish them for failing to do so by setting inflated bail amounts.
Utah’s FTA risk score increases for any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. Research has shown that marginalized communities are much more likely to be targeted by police and criminally charged. The ATP matrix reinforces and further punishes according to the classist and racist biases found in Utah’s criminal justice system.
The courts should abolish cash bail and the FTA risk assessment altogether and expand Pretrial Services to help defendants through the court system.
Thank you for considering public opinions about the ATP Matrix. While I am happy to see that fewer people will be held in jails pre-trial under this new system, I still have serious concerns about the equity of a cash bail system in general. Using the FTA Risk Score continues to place heavier burdens on people with lower incomes. People do not fail to appear in court because they are lazy or dangerous or don’t care: it is extremely difficult to attend hearings when you do not have paid time off, child care, access to reliable transportation, or a reliable way to receive information from the courts. While judges are more than happy to reset court dates for lawyers who come unprepared, this same flexibility is not granted to defendants. Rather than using this as a metric to determine bail, I hope to see an expansion of supportive services for defendants. I would also like to see serious consideration of removing the cash bail system, and to stop needlessly incarcerating people pre-trial for reasons that can only be attributed to socioeconomic barriers. Thank you for your time.
I am a resident of Salt Lake County and am submitting this comment to voice my dissatisfaction with the current plans to implement the Ability-to-Pay (ATP) Matrix.
I am pleased that Utah courts are attempting to address the crippling financial burden that cash bail unfairly imposes upon low-income defendants. Regrettably, use of the FTA risk score leaves open many loopholes for continued oppression of Utah’s Black and Brown, poor, immigrant, LGBTQ, and otherwise marginalized communities.
One major caveat is that “failure to appear” is an unjust metric to determine a defendant’s “worthiness” for reduced bail. As a stay at home mom, with only one child at home, I often find myself at the mercy of my toddler’s sleep schedule, moods, and bodily functions. Despite my best efforts, occasionally a slew of small, but essential to address, unforeseeable events will cause me to be late, or miss an appointment altogether. Society is quick to condemn mothers and caregivers who fail in these regards, but it truly happens to everyone, and quite often. These burdens are only exacerbated when you factor in additional children and other members of a household who may require care, single parent households, socio-economic status, access to transportation as well as potential lack of effective public transportation depending on the neighborhood, ability to take time off work, the current limitations on finding childcare during a pandemic and many more variables. The courts should provide services to help defendants appear in court, not punish them for failing to do so by setting inflated bail amounts.
Additionally, Utah’s FTA risk score increases for any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. Research has shown that marginalized communities are much more likely to be targeted by police and criminally charged. The ATP matrix reinforces and further punishes according to the classist and racist biases found in Utah’s criminal justice system.
I call on the courts to consider abolishing cash bail and the FTA risk assessment altogether. I urge the courts to expand Pretrial Services to help defendants through the court system.
Thank you for considering my comment.
I am a concerned community member in Salt Lake County and am submitting this comment to bring attention to the shortcomings of the Ability-to-Pay (ATP) Matrix.
The ATP matrix relies on a defendant’s income and their FTA risk score. It is great that Utah courts are finally considering the devastating impact that cash bail has on low-income defendants. Unfortunately, the ATP matrix’s reliance on the FTA risk score renders the matrix a harmful tool for continued oppression of Utah’s Black and Brown, poor, immigrant, LGBTQ, and otherwise marginalized communities.
How can we calculate “failure to appear” without accounting for the personal and structural conditions that cause a person to miss court? The courts should provide services to help defendants appear in court, not punish them for failing to do so by setting inflated bail amounts.
Utah’s FTA risk score increases for any prior misdemeanor or felony charges. Research has shown that marginalized communities are much more likely to be targeted by police and criminally charged. The ATP matrix reinforces and further punishes according to the classist and racist biases found in Utah’s criminal justice system.
I call on the courts to consider abolishing cash bail and the FTA risk assessment altogether. I urge the courts to expand Pretrial Services to help defendants through the court system.
Serving any jail time without ever being convicted of a crime is fundamentally wrong. The amount of lost work itself places strain on stable housing and supportive relationships of the individuals facing charges. If they are the source of financial income any money that would have been used for food, children, and rent go toward getting the individual out of the jail system to be able to retire to supporting themselves and their dependents.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter. I trust you will adjust procedure and sentiments to benefit all affected individuals.
I’m a Salt Lake City resident and am expressing my support for the Ability-to-Pay (ATP) Matrix. This would be a step towards a more equitable justice system. Imprisonment should not be determine by how much money one has. This would be a step towards equal accountability under the law. It is unfair that those with wealth and privilege can abide by different standards and rules to abide by.