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Pretrial Release: State Constitutional Right to Bail

States typically have a constitutional provision mirroring the federal Eighth Amendment prohibition on excessive bail. There also are constitutional or statutory provisions that provide the “right to bail”—the right to be released from jail before trial after a defendant agrees to return for court. These provisions provide the foundation for pretrial policy and are distinguished from financial conditions of release imposed by a court, which are often referred to as “bail” or “money bail.”
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