Report: Democrat North Carolina U.S. Candidate Cheri Beasley ‘Wants to Eliminate Cash Bail’

Democrat North Carolina U.S. Senate candidate Cheri Beasley supports “ending the cash bail system,” according to a Tuesday Fox News report — a policy which is proving to be particularly ineffective and destructive in big cities across the country.

Beasley’s campaign website includes her support of “ending some mandatory minimums and ending the cash bail system particularly for nonviolent offenders.” The report noted that former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Beasley said during the State of the North Carolina Judiciary address in July 2019 that “many judicial districts are evaluating their bail policies.”

“Counties big and small, urban and rural, are changing the way they handle criminal cases pre-trial, and they are beginning to see positive results,” Beasley said. “Jails are less crowded, defendants are keeping their jobs, and families are staying in their homes. These communities are finding that this process does not compromise their safety, and it keeps their taxes low. All across our state, thousands of North Carolinians are jailed every year because they cannot afford to pay a fine.”

Beasley reportedly added that jailing people who are unable to pay fines is “costly to the public” and keeps people from being able to work. 

During a 2020 conversation with the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, Beasley said there is “great value” in dismantling the current criminal justice system, according to the report. 

The report stated: 

Speaking to Rev. Greg Moss, the former president of GBSC, Beasley said that George Floyd’s death “did not happen in vain” and claimed it “forced all of us to act progressively around how to do better in our systems.”

When asked by Moss about the thought that there “needs to be more radical change, even in terms of tearing down to the bare bones and building back” the justice system, Beasely said, “You know, I think there’s great value in that premise, I really do.”

“We’re doing a commission because we know these efforts have to be long-lasting,” Beasley added. “Rome wasn’t built in a day. Racial disparities didn’t start yesterday, and we really have to have a reckoning around this nation’s history, holistically, but also especially in our courts. We have not been the greatest guardians of the rule of law. It’s important to acknowledge that, and it’s important to do something about it.”

According to the report, Beasley also supports the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act that “limited qualified immunity,” and the Human Correctional Healthcare Act, which “granted Medicaid coverage to incarcerated individuals.”