Monmouth and Ocean Counties in New Jersey have joined at least 7 other counties in challenging the upcoming bail reform law that is set to take effect in January 2017. These counties fear that the cost associated with the proposed changes would cost more than $28 million since the changes are still not funded by the state. The counties through the New Jersey Association of Counties filed a petition with the Council on Local Mandates to review whether the bill is properly funded. Local law enforcement fears that the promised savings from the proposed bail reform simply doesn’t exist since the number of additional hires to comply with the new mandates alone would eliminate the savings. One county believes the reform could cost them as much as $2 million to implement the proposed changes.
The tough reality is that bail reform is costly. In order to justify the costs there needs to be a true benefit to implementing the change. 9 Counties in New Jersey already fear the costs to implement these changes far exceed any benefit. The bail reform proposals were unfunded mandates that simply won’t work. We have seen it time and again. Bail reform always sounds better on paper than it is in reality because true costs are not taken into account. Bail provides a service to the community and to defendants that should not be taken away unless a realistic, cost-effective alternative exists. New Jersey is not the only state to find out that these proposed reform laws do not fix the problem but merely create new ones.