Please attribute the following statement to Peter Eliasberg, chief counsel/Manheim Family attorney for First Amendment Rights at the ACLU of Southern California, regarding the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' unanimous decision today to investigate alternatives to the county's money bail system:
"The L.A. County Board of Supervisors' decision to study alternatives to the county's severely broken money bail system is a significant first step.
The current bail policies favor wealth over justice. They allow people of means, in many cases, to go free before trial, while a disproportionate number of people of color and from low-income communities languish in jails, in danger of losing their jobs and housing.
The results of the study are to be submitted to the supervisors within four months. The ACLU urges the board to then move quickly to adopt an equitable pretrial release system."
