Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - President Donald Trump on Monday signed an Executive Order aimed at banning cashless bail in the nation's capital, and said he could try to do the same thing in New York State.
But would ending cashless bail policies achieve the stated goal of maintaining order and public safety?
Former Erie County District Attorney John Flynn told WBEN that no-cash bail in New York wouldn't be his top concern, instead, it would be the list of crimes that qualify.
"You're either on the list where you're eligible for bail, or you're not eligible for bail," Flynn said during an appearance with WBEN. "What we're seeing a lot of times are all these offenses where the judge doesn't even have the ability to put bail on someone. There's crimes that are ineligible for bail, so the judge has to let this person out, and when they get out they can commit more crimes."
Crimes in New York that are not bail eligible include most misdemeanors as well as drug-related and non-violent felonies.
So is the president's focus on cashless bail misguided?
"It's not misguided if you eliminate the list," Flynn said. "If you went back to 2019 when the judge had the ability to put bail on everyone, and then you eliminated cashless bail on top of that, that could potentially work."