Nevada Supreme Court hears proposal to overhaul bail system

CARSON CITY — Nevada’s highest court heard public comment Tuesday on a proposal to overhaul how judges evaluate whether defendants should be jailed before trial.

Nevada currently has a charge-based system. Depending on the charge or charges a defendant faces, a defendant can be jailed and bail is assigned accordingly.

If a defendant is assigned a bail amount he or she cannot pay, that defendant remains in jail, even if he or she is not considered a flight risk.

The new proposal is a risk-based system. It considers a defendant’s criminal history and other factors that are designed to determine whether or not a defendant can be considered a flight risk and should therefore be jailed ahead of trial.

A pilot program that used the proposed “risk-assessment tool” was implemented in a handful of courts across the state in September 2016, including Washoe County District Court, Washoe County Justice Court and Las Vegas Justice Court, among others.

Proponents of the tool argued that the “scoring items” it uses to determine whether or not a defendant is a flight risk are based on science and that an overhaul of Nevada’s current system was long overdue.

But opponents argued that some of the scoring items stood to disproportionately affect people of color and the poor.

The controversial scoring items included considering whether or not a defendant was arrested at an age of 20 or younger — regardless of conviction — and whether or not the defendant has a place of residence and access to a cell phone.

Opponents also noted that Assembly Bill 17, which was introduced in the Legislature on Monday, considers a different bail overhaul proposal.

Contact Rachel Crosby at rcrosby@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3801. Follow @rachelcrosby on Twitter.