When California judges began releasing large numbers of criminal defendants without bail because of the coronavirus, law enforcement groups predicted an increase in crime.
But an inmate advocacy group said Friday that the statewide crime rate had plummeted in the first month of the pandemic, and there was no reason to believe the rate has risen since then.
Californians for Safety and Justice, a nonprofit that seeks reduced confinement in jails and prisons, cited an April 7 report by the Public Policy Institute of California. It found a one-month drop of 41% in reported crimes in major California cities, and an even steeper decline in Oakland, 69%, and San Francisco, 55%.
On April 6, the state Judicial Council voted to eliminate bail in all county courts for defendants accused of misdemeanors and most types of nonviolent felonies. Some prosecutors and law enforcement officials have predicted that releasing thousands of defendants without bail would cause lawbreaking to soar.
No statistics on statewide crime for the last month are available yet. But Will Matthews, spokesman for Californians for Safety and Justice, said there is “no evidence out there to suggest that there’s been a huge uptick in crime.”
He cited an April 24 report by KTVU saying 3% of defendants released from jail without bail in Alameda County had been rearrested, and a report by the Los Angeles Times saying arrests in Los Angeles were 37% lower this April than they had been a year earlier.
Just as important, Matthews said, even for charges covered by the zero-bail order, if police or prosecutors have evidence that an individual defendant would be dangerous if released, they can book the defendant into jail after arrest and then ask a Superior Court judge to set a bail amount or hold the suspect without bail.
According to another Public Policy Institute of California report, state records indicate that the zero-bail order has reduced the post-arrest jailing of defendants in California by about 60%.
“These findings suggest that the zero bail measure is playing a significant role in reducing crowding in California’s county jails and helping to make social distancing more achievable,” the institute said.
On Monday, the state Supreme Court denied a request by inmate advocates to order the state to release large numbers of inmates from local jails and juvenile detention facilities during the pandemic. State prisons are reducing their population by about 3,500 under a Judicial Council order to free inmates with less than 60 days to serve on their sentences, but advocacy groups are asking a federal court to order substantially more releases.
Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
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