While the White House can’t directly control local jurisdictions that refuse to issue cash bail for accused criminals, particularly repeat offenders, experts say the president does have some ways to influence cities where crime has gotten out of control.

President Donald Trump recently announced a new executive order as part of his plan to undo the spread of cashless bail. He directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to, within 30 days, compile a list of all jurisdictions that have implemented the policy. And he instructed other federal agencies to identify what grants and contracts can be suspended as a result.

“As President, I will require commonsense policies that protect Americans’ safety and well-being by incarcerating individuals who are known threats,” Trump wrote in the order. “It is therefore the policy of my Administration that Federal policies and resources should not be used to support jurisdictions with cashless bail policies, to the maximum extent permitted by law.”

A police officer is positioned outside the U.S. Capitol in August 2025.  (Getty Images)

A California study in 2023 found that violent crime tripled in the state under its “Zero Bail” policy.

“Every single individual and every case should be evaluated by a judge, an independent magistrate, who can look at that person’s criminal history, look at the facts of the current case and make an informed decision about what their risk level is and what’s it going to take to make sure that they don’t go out and harm somebody again,” Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig told Fox News Digital at the time. “That needs to happen in every case.”

Another version of cashless bail, according to Rice, is called unsecured bond. In those situations, bond is set with a dollar value, but the defendant doesn’t have to post it unless they miss a court date.

“Well, the funny part about that is, is if somebody doesn’t show up to court, they’re probably not going to pay a bond either,” Rice told Fox News Digital. “So it really is a ludicrous idea to have these unsecure bonds, but cashless bond is becoming more popular in a lot of these blue states, a lot of the more liberal states. And I think a lot of these states are starting to see a backfire on them.”

In particular, he said, low-level criminals who are released go back to committing crimes like shoplifting and burglary almost immediately, before their pending cases go to court, lowering the quality of life and keeping crime levels high even in areas where murders are down.

In Baltimore, for example, medical advances have made it more likely for victims to survive shootings.

“What we see is that people that got shot who maybe 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago would have died, they go to Shock Trauma, and they save them,” he said, referring to the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Shock Trauma Center. “So while the murder number may drop, the shooting number may be consistent or be going up, which is still a sign of crime in a city.”