April 19, 2023 – Criminal defense lawyer Brian Dimmer says that two recently enacted changes to the state constitutional provision on cash bail will likely add to the pressures pushing on the underfunded criminal justice system.

“What happens when you start locking people up is you trigger more pressure, because now those people are entitled to speedy trials,” Dimmer said. “All of a sudden you’re trying to figure out, ‘How are all these trials going to happen?’”

That would mean more work for overworked and underpaid prosecutors and state public defenders, Dimmer said.

Voters overwhelmingly approved the constitutional amendments on at the April 4 election.

The changes allow judges to both consider past convictions for violent crimes when setting bail for a person accused of a violent crime and set conditions designed to protect the public when releasing a person before trial.