The Harris campaign is signaling continued support for ending cash bail and bail reform as the vice president and former prosecutor faces scrutiny over past policies and positions related to crime and law enforcement.
“Vice President Harris believes our criminal justice system should protect and serve all Americans, regardless of their economic status, gender, or race,” James Singer, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, told Fox News Digital.
“On the issue of cash bail, she believes that we need a system where public safety, not wealth, determines who should stay behind bars following an arrest. Anyone who is a danger to society should be detained regardless of how wealthy they are.”
During her public life as district attorney in San Francisco, California attorney general and U.S. senator, Harris’ position on cash bail has varied.
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Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at Philadelphia International Airport for a campaign event at Girard College in Philadelphia on Aug. 6. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
In 2019, when she unsuccessfully ran for president, Harris made her position known a little more forcefully.
“End money bail. Our bail system is unjust and broken,” Harris wrote in a post on Medium.
“450,000 Americans sit in jail today awaiting trial because they cannot afford to pay bail. Excessive cash bail disproportionately harms people from low-income communities and communities of color,” she said.
“Black defendants are more likely to be detained before trial and less likely to be able to post bail compared with similarly-situated White defendants. And Black men pay higher bail than similarly-situated White defendants.”
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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks as Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz looks on during a campaign event at Girard College in Philadelphia on Aug. 6. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
But in 2004, Harris said one of her top “priorities” during the first 100 days of serving as a DA would be to make bail more expensive, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
“On a daily basis, the work I have to do and where I have to put my mind in terms of my priorities is on things like sitting down with Russ [Guintini] my chief assistant and talking with him about the fact we are going to change the bail schedule in San Francisco,” Harris said in an interview. “We are in the process of asking the bench, the judiciary, to reevaluate the fact that we require people who have been arrested to pay a lot less than other counties.”
She also commented that individuals were coming to San Francisco “to commit crimes because it’s cheaper to do it.”
Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to speak at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on Saturday. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
“You know, we have to do something about that,” she said. “Those are things I’m spending my time on.”
Later in 2014, while she was attorney general, Harris’ office argued against the release of nonviolent criminals because they wanted to keep them for cheap labor, the Washington Examiner reported.
“Extending 2-for-1 credits to all minimum custody inmates at this time would severely impact fire camp participation — a dangerous outcome while California is in the middle of a difficult fire season and severe drought,” lawyers from Harris’ office wrote in a filing.
Abolishing cash bail is generally considered a progressive approach to criminal justice. But as such reforms have been implemented in states like New York, data shows that bail elimination can lead to higher recidivism rates.
The Data Collaborative for Justice concluded in February that “the elimination of money bail increased recidivism for people charged with nonviolent felonies, with recent criminal history, and with a recent violent felony arrest, while it decreased recidivism for people charged with misdemeanors and people with no recent criminal history.”
Critics of Harris have said she has a pattern of flipping her positions on potentially controversial policies depending on what will favor her politically.
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A former elected public safety official in California, who criticized Harris for her role in championing the state’s notorious crime law, said Harris’ purported ability to combat drug and violent crime was “all foam and no beer.”
“That’s really her principle. She doesn’t want to take a position because she doesn’t know how it will impact her future,” a former official told Fox News Digital.
Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is characterizing the elimination of cash bail as a “catastrophe.”
“Eliminating cash bail is a catastrophe for public safety and puts more violent criminals back on the streets to cause further mayhem,” Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital. “In cities and states with Dangerously Liberal prosecutors like Kamala Harris, crime has skyrocketed and daily life has degenerated and it is all thanks to the turnstile justice these radical, left-wing policies create. Kamala Harris is a dangerously liberal hypocrite and only President Trump and JD Vance can clean up our streets and make America safe again.”