Prosecutor-Led Bail Reform: Insights from External Stakeholders in Philadelphia

• In Event: Prosecutors and Policy Effects: Findings from Four Jurisdictions

Abstract

In recent years, bail reform has emerged as a marked agenda item for progressive prosecutors elected and taking office across the country. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office (DAO) has been a leader in the reform movement, implementing two rounds of bail reform aimed at both reducing the use of cash bail for low-level offenses and moving toward a binary hold/no hold (i.e., abolition of cash bail as a condition of release) pretrial system.
External stakeholders and relationships can serve as both a significant barrier and facilitator to policy change of any kind. Drawing from semi-structured interviews (n = 45), the current study aims to better understand the implementation of both rounds of bail reform, specifically from the perspective of stakeholders outside of the DAO. Interviews were conducted in 2021-2022 with staff from justice system agencies and non-governmental/community organizations. Findings suggest that external stakeholders understand the DAO’s bail reform to be vulnerable to both internal (e.g., policy rollout, communication) and external (e.g., institutional resistance, public safety concerns) hindrances. As such, the current study underscores the importance of stakeholder collaboration and involvement in bail reform, particularly policy changes that require broad, system-level support in their implementation.

Authors

• Sarah D. Jones, Temple University

• E. Rely Vilcica, Temple University