In light of the commission's formation, US Program Senior Researcher John Raphling has written to share Human Rights Watch's findings and recommendations regarding pretrial incarceration, money bail, and risk assessment tools. While endorsing the adoption of pretrial reforms so as to mitigate the harm caused by the money bail system, the letter warns against the use of risk assessment tools as a shortcut to this goal, citing their inherent racial and class bias as well as their poor track record with reductions in pretrial incarceration rates.
Read the letter here.