Will Alabama Go Full Chicago & Reward the Left’s Crime Wave?

As Montgomery, Alabama struggles with crime, Democrat legislators eye bail “reform” to return criminals to the streets even faster.

The very same “progressives” who have turned Montgomery, Alabama into a no-go zone after sunset are about to make things even worse by abolishing cash bail for criminals—a move Illinois tried in 2022 and now continues to suffer under.

Currently, criminals who are charged with a crime in Alabama are required to pay the full amount to be released on bond, but Democrats are fighting to “reform” that requirement. In February, Alabama state Rep. Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa) introduced H.B. 16, a bill that would allow criminals to pay only a portion of the bail to be released. While the measure has little chance of passing the Republican-controlled legislature, it shows how Democrats are localizing far-left proposals brewed by professional activists like San Francisco and Manhattan in blue cities nationwide.

The results are anything but “progressive” for the people who suffer under these pro-criminal laws. Every city that has loosened—or outright abolished—it bail laws is crumbling under increased crime and lawlessness as criminals are released for a literal “second chance.”

And law-abiding Americans are paying the final cost.

If passed, H.B. 16 would alter Aniah’s Law, the bail system in Alabama that was passed by Republicans in 2021 without a single Democrat vote. (No wonder they are so fixated on changing the law.)

Even Montgomery District Attorney Daryl Bailey (D) is on board, writing on Facebook last month that the bail system in Alabama needs to be reformed because bonding companies are pledging millions of dollars in bail without the ability to pay if the defendant doesn’t show up.

Since when does a criminal’s inability to pay constitute “bail reform?” After all, Montgomery is already a cesspool of crime due to far-left policies.

Montgomery County represents nearly 5 percent of all homicides in Alabama despite being less than 4 percent of the population. Montgomery itself is rated among the worst 9 percent of cities in America for public safety.

If Montgomery County and Jefferson County, Alabama are removed from the equation, the homicide rate in Alabama would drop by a whopping 22 percent. Bail reform is not in favor of the law-abiding citizens of Montgomery County or Alabama as a whole—it’s in favor of criminals. How can the Left square their intentions to abolish cash bail in Alabama when their cities are already crumbling under waves of crime due to their own policies?

If anything, bail should be increased to prevent violent offenders from continuing to commit crimes—a trend seen in every city that chooses to “reform” or abolish cash bail.

 But as the Left has proved continuously, protecting Americans is not the main goal.

(RELATED: Meet the Anti-Cash Bail Activists Bringing Crime Back to Illinois)

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Those who support bail reform often cite racial and criminal justice as the key reason, but the decision to return criminals to the streets always results in more crime. To make matters worse, much of the “reform” is funded by leftist groups, peddled by “dark money, and facilitated by bought-and-paid-for DA’s sponsored by “progressive’ megadonor George Soros.

As progressive lawmakers work to reform bail, non-profit groups are showing Americans what will happen if criminals are returned to our streets.

The Chicago Bail Fund and the Bail Project, groups that advocate or bail reform and pay the bail of violent offenders, have between them released 162 individuals charged with serious felonies. Of those released, three were charged with murder, 10 were accused of murder, and 22 were labeled as “armed habitual criminals.”

To no surprise, more than 20 percent of the individuals released were later charged with further crimes.

Additionally, the Chicago Community Bond Fund has spent $5.1 million to free 825 charged individuals over the last eight years. Sadly, many law-abiding Americans have become victims of senseless violence due to these groups.

In Oct. 2021, the Chicago Community Bond Fund posted a $10,000 bail for Kavell Buchanan, who was charged with driving a stolen car. Two months later, Buchanan was arrested again, this time for allegedly robbing a man at gunpoint.

In 2019, the group bailed out Izarious Cannon for $5,000 after he was allegedly involved in an armed robbery of a grocery store. Following his release, Cannon faced new charges for driving a stolen car, possessing ammunition, and distributing cocaine and fentanyl.

It’s time the Left was held accountable for their social experiments that are merely virtue-signaling efforts. Americans value strict laws that punish criminals and not laws that return them to our streets.

(RELATED: The Left Spends Millions to Return Criminals to Our Streets)