This bill mandates pretrial and post-conviction detention for violent or dangerous crimes while requiring cash bail for release from custody for certain public safety or order offenses in the District of Columbia.
Elise Stefanik
Representative
NY-21
The District of Columbia Cash Bail Reform Act of 2025 significantly tightens pretrial and post-conviction detention rules for individuals charged with violent or dangerous crimes, making detention mandatory in many such cases. For other offenses, the bill introduces a requirement for a secured cash or property bond for release if the charge involves public safety or order offenses. These changes will only apply to defendants charged with crimes after the Act officially takes effect thirty days following its enactment.
D.C. Bill Mandates Pretrial Detention for Violent Crime Charges and Reintroduces Cash Bail for Public Order Offenses
The District of Columbia Cash Bail Reform Act of 2025 is a major policy shift that essentially hits the rewind button on recent bail reforms in the District. In short, this bill makes it mandatory for judges to detain people charged with a “crime of violence” or a “dangerous crime” until their trial. It also brings back secured cash bail requirements for a whole list of offenses categorized as “public safety or order crimes.” These changes apply to anyone charged 30 days after the bill becomes law (Sec. 4).
The Mandatory Detention Hammer
The biggest change here is the removal of judicial discretion for serious charges. If you are charged with a “crime of violence” or a “dangerous crime,” a judge must order you detained pretrial (Sec. 2). Before this, judges could consider conditions for release. Now, for these charges, the default setting is the lockup. The bill also tightens the definitions of what counts as a dangerous or violent crime, focusing on more severe classifications—like replacing simple “Burglary” with “Burglary in the first degree, attempted burglary in the first degree, or burglary with a dangerous weapon.” This is clearly designed to keep people charged with the most serious offenses off the street immediately, which is the bill’s stated benefit to public safety.
Cash Bail is Back in Town
For those charged with a “public safety or order crime,” the bill reintroduces the requirement for a secured appearance bond—which is just a fancy legal term for cash bail (Sec. 3). This means that to get out before trial, you must put up money or property that the court can seize if you skip your court date. The list of offenses triggering this cash bail requirement is broad, including things like stalking, rioting, obstructing justice, and even failing to appear in court previously. For everyday people, this is a significant concern: if you are charged with one of these offenses but don't have the cash to post bail, you will remain detained until your trial, regardless of whether you pose a flight risk or a danger to the community. Your freedom becomes tied directly to your wallet.
A Presumption of Danger
Even for serious offenses where detention isn't strictly mandatory, the bill stacks the deck against the defendant. For certain serious charges—especially those involving threats against police, court officials, or jurors—the law now creates a presumption that no combination of release conditions will keep the community safe (Sec. 2). What this means practically is that the burden of proof shifts entirely to the defendant, who now has to argue successfully why they should be released, even under strict conditions. This change significantly increases the power of the prosecution and makes it much harder for defendants to secure pretrial freedom, potentially leading to longer pretrial incarceration times. While the intent is to protect the community and the integrity of the legal process, the result will be more people detained simply because they couldn't overcome this legal presumption, which is a major restriction on pretrial liberty.