“Locking up people before trial because they cannot afford to pay bail is a leading cause of mass incarceration in Washington state and elsewhere. Reforming Washington’s treatment of people before trial, including the use of money bail, will result in fewer people unnecessarily held behind bars” (ACLU 2016).

“Close to three-quarters of a million people reside in
America’s jail system . . . Across the country, nearly two-thirds of all
inmates who crowd our county jails — at an annual cost of roughly nine billion
taxpayer dollars — are defendants awaiting trial. . . . Many of these individuals
are nonviolent, non-felony offenders, charged with crimes ranging from petty
theft to public drug use. And a disproportionate number of them are poor.
They are forced to remain in custody . . . because they simply cannot afford
to post the bail required[.]”
Attorney General Eric Holder
at the National Symposium on Pretrial Justice
June 1, 2011

https://www.aclu-wa.org/bail