ACLU-NH denounces Gov. Ayotte calling bail reform system a “failed social experiment”

NH’s bail system is bipartisan criminal legal reform that has saved taxpayer dollars while seeing continued lower crime rates for six years

CONCORD, N.H. - The ACLU of New Hampshire today called out Governor Ayotte for the untrue and irresponsible interpretation of the state’s bail laws as a “failed social experiment.” Bail reform, the commonly-used phrase for the bipartisan law that reformed New Hampshire’s bail system in 2018, has saved taxpayers money while seeing drastically lower crime rates every year for the six years following its implementation.

“Police are not a judge and jury, and they should not have the power to take away someone’s freedom. That power is left to a judge's discretion. From the perspective of freedom, justice, and due process, we are extremely alarmed by Governor Ayotte’s inaccurate and misleading statements on bail reform and her expressed desire to take away the freedom of thousands of Granite Staters who are presumed innocent in the eyes of the law,” said Amanda Azad, policy director at the ACLU of New Hampshire. “Governor Ayotte is disregarding years of state data that shows a clear and remarkable decrease in crime and is instead pushing fearful anecdotes to make anti-civil liberty changes to our bail laws. Our current laws ensure that poorer people, wealthier people, and everyone in between is treated the same - but the Governor wants to change that.”

Prior to the 2018 reforms, one Black Granite Stater who could not afford cash bail died in a New Hampshire jail for a low level marijuana possession charge. In a separate, earlier incident, the same man had spent 33 days in jail for not being able to afford a $100 bail for walking through a public park. That type of wealth-based incarceration was and still is cruel.

It is clear that New Hampshire’s bail system is indeed working: thousands of people have gone through the legal process without needlessly losing their freedom, housing, job, or family. The ACLU of New Hampshire has spoken to Granite Staters who have benefited from this system over the years as their charges go through the legal system, like a mom charged with stealing groceries who was able to return home to take care of her newborn. These are the stories that law enforcement fails to share at the State House.

The facts on bail reform:

• New Hampshire’s current law allows anyone dangerous to be held without bail. Whether police or prosecutors make that case is up to them.
  • For years, law enforcement across the state have testified at the State House that New Hampshire’s bail reform laws were to blame for not holding people deemed dangerous: but what they do not talk about is that police and prosecutors are able to make a case for anyone dangerous to be held without bail thanks to the bail reform changes in 2018. Instead of using this system properly, they claim they must do away with the system entirely so that they may instead hold any Granite Stater behind bars by making their bail unaffordable. In many of the fearful anecdotes shared, neither law enforcement nor prosecutors ever even asked the judge to hold someone without bail.

• Violent crime has dropped nearly in half since bail reform was implemented in 2018.
  • Bail reform has prevented people from being needlessly detained, all while crime has gone down. According to the NH Department of Safety, crime and arrests are down substantially since bail reform efforts began in 2018 and continue to drop as shown in the data publicly available on their crime statistics website. New Hampshire’s crime rate has decreased across the board with violent crimes dropping between the years 2017 to 2024 almost in half, according to the NH Department of Safety’s own data. The Granite State is consistently ranked one of the safest states in the country - a fact touted by Governor Ayotte frequently.
• Rolling back bail reform would harm New Hampshire’s communities of color and deepen disparities within the state’s criminal legal system.
  • Black Granite Staters are 3.33 times more likely to be arrested overall in New Hampshire, according to 2023 numbers. Because they are disproportionately arrested, they will also be disproportionately incarcerated under this proposed system.