What does "bail reform" typically aim to address?

Bail reform typically aims to reduce the reliance on monetary bail as a means of securing pretrial release. This movement is rooted in the understanding that monetary bail can disproportionately affect low-income individuals who may remain incarcerated simply because they cannot afford to pay bail, regardless of their flight risk or the severity of the alleged crime.

By focusing on alternatives to monetary bail, such as risk assessments and community-based supervision, bail reform seeks to ensure fairness and equity within the pretrial system. It promotes the idea that individuals should not be penalized for their financial situations, and instead, the emphasis is placed on assessing an individual's likelihood to appear in court and their public safety risk.

Options that discuss increasing monetary bail amounts or implementing stricter penalties for non-compliance do not align with the core goals of bail reform, which seeks to alleviate the negative impacts of existing practices. Enhancing community supervision could be seen as a component of a broader strategy to manage pretrial defendants effectively, but it is not the primary aim of bail reform itself. Thus, reducing reliance on monetary bail encapsulates the main objective of initiatives aimed at reforming bail practices.