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Opponents of attempts to tighten New Hampshire\u2019s bail laws say requiring bail from more suspects will disproportionately hurt Black Granite Staters \u2014 not because of crime rates, but because of \u201cstaggering racial bias.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is a powerful political argument, though one that does not appear to be backed by data<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2018, Gov. Chris Sununu signed a bail reform law designed to reduce the number of people held in pretrial detention and impose an \u201ceconomic fairness\u201d filter on the process. \u201cSenate Bill 556 represents the culmination of a bipartisan effort to address these issues and reform our bail system by ensuring economic fairness, protecting the rights of defendants, and enhancing public safety. I am proud today to sign Senate Bill 556 into law,\u201d Sununu said at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n Less than four years later, Sununu is urging the legislature to tighten bail requirements once again, even giving the issue a shout-out in his State of the State address last month.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw just yesterday the Senate passed SB 294, that will ensure violent criminals don\u2019t automatically walk free on bail. I mean, who wants to see a violent criminal walk free on bail?\u201d Sununu asked, \u201cAttackers shouldn\u2019t be able just to walk right out and prey on their victims once again. And this legislature\u2019s standing up and doing something about it.\u201d<\/p>\n And this week, the GOP-controlled House will consider HB 1476 that, while it doesn\u2019t change how first-time defendants are treated, adds additional requirements for repeat offenders.<\/p>\n \u201cProperty crime is up 10 percent in Manchester since their bail reform passed, and our community has had enough,\u201d said state Rep. Ross Berry (R-Manchester), one of the bill\u2019s sponsors. \u201cOur police are worn down by having to arrest the same people over and over again just to see them walk hours later only to re-offend again.\u201d<\/p>\n The politics of bail reform appear to have changed radically since the wake of the George Floyd murder when progressive policing ideas were on the rise. \u201c\u2018Bail reform\u2019 in 2022 emerging as the equivalent of \u2018defund the police\u2019 in 2020,\u201d National Journal\u2019s Josh Kraushaar said Sunday.<\/p>\n Supporters of the original push to lower bail requirements \u2014 or eliminating cash bail entirely \u2014 aren\u2019t happy.<\/p>\n \u201cBy most measures, the current law has been working,\u201d says Ross Connolly with New Hampshire\u2019s chapter of the libertarian-leaning Americans for Prosperity. \u201cNew Hampshire has seen a reduction in crime since the passage of pretrial reform in 2018. However, we understand concerns with how the law has been implemented in certain areas of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a targeted issue that needs a targeted solution. Unfortunately, none of the proposals so far have addressed the issue in a manner that protects due process rights and will not have the potential to be used to re-criminalize poverty in New Hampshire,\u201d Connolly added.<\/p>\n But opponents in the state\u2019s Black Lives Matter movement say the real issue isn\u2019t re-offending. It\u2019s race.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the nearly two years since Mr. Floyd\u2019s death, not only have politicians failed to deliver on their promises, they are actively pushing legislation to expand the incarceration of Black, Brown and other marginalized people in the Granite State,\u201d Ronelle Tshiela and Clifton West with the state\u2019s Black Lives Matter organization wrote in Sunday\u2019s Union-Leader.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n They reject HB 1476 \u201cbecause New Hampshire\u2019s criminal laws are enforced with staggering racial bias, this new law would disproportionately harm the same communities that our political leaders have said they support. How? Because Black people are disproportionately arrested, they will also be disproportionately incarcerated under this mandated one-size-fits-all legislation,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n Tshiela and West point to overall arrest numbers to argue that Black people are arrested at a disproportionate rate and that racism is the cause for that disparity.<\/p>\n \u201cFor individuals and communities already suffering from the legacy of racism in America, including right here in New Hampshire, the unnecessary pretrial detention of disproportionately Black people will only serve to create additional harms.\u201d<\/p>\n However, data show Black Americans are far more likely to commit violent crimes than their fellow Americans, and arrest numbers tend to reflect that fact. Half of all murders and robberies are committed by Black people, though they make up just 13 percent of the population.<\/p>\n According to Rafael Mangual<\/a> of the Manhattan Institute,\u00a0people of color commit a disproportionate amount of crime.<\/a> \u201cNationwide, Black Americans have a homicide rate about eight times higher than that of Whites. Black males are just 7 percent of the population, but represent about 50 percent of both homicide perpetrators and victims.\u201d<\/p>\n Some BLM activists argue Black perpetrators are arrested far more often than their White counterparts, and that is the reason for the statistics. While there may be some disparity, a 2021 study<\/a> comparing FBI crime statistics and victim reports of the race of their alleged assailants found \u201cno statistically significant differences by race between offenders identified and persons arrested.\u201d<\/p>\n The claim of \u201cstaggering racial bias\u201d among New Hampshire\u2019s police and courts may not be bolstered by data, but it is commonly repeated by progressive Democrats. New Hampshire state Rep. Manny Espitia, for example, recently upbraided a fellow House Democrat for calling law enforcement during an encounter with a Black activist \u201cdespite being fully cognizant of the heightened dangers Black men face in this country in the presence of law enforcement.\u201d (Espitia currently sits on the House Criminal Justice Committee.<\/a>)<\/p>\n And U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren famously called the American criminal justice system \u201cracist from front to back.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Tsheila did not respond to a request for comment regarding the data in the op-ed.<\/p>\n For Berry, the focus should be on the victims, not the offenders.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can stand up for repeat offenders who flaunt the law all they want, but anyone who lives in and around Manchester knows that the policy of catch-and-release has backfired and needs to be corrected,\u201d Berry said. \u201cIf someone is arrested multiple times while out on bail, something is going on in their life that needs to be addressed. The bail commissioners cannot do that. Only a judge can.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n