TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Sep 14, 2021

A Tennessee General Assembly committee yesterday heard testimony from lawyers, sheriffs, judges, criminal justice reform advocates and others on the state’s cash bail system, the Daily Memphian reports. While many suggestions were made to “refine” the system, abolishing pretrial detention or cash bail were not among them. Arguments were made for risk-assessment tools that would determine whether a person should be released pretrial, but some advocates raised concerns about such tools being biased against people of color. Lincoln Memorial University law school Professor Willie Santana questioned the rate of pretrial detention and argued it should be used far less. Santana suggested a “more explicit presumption of release without conditions” and a requirement that all bail hearings occur within 48 hours. The Tennessean also has coverage of the meeting.