PBS News Weekend

When a person is arrested, the idea behind bail is simple: someone who posts cash to get out of jail before trial is more likely to return to court, because otherwise, the money will be revoked. But critics of the cash bail system say it unfairly incarcerates too many non-violent defendants especially the poor before they are convicted of any crime. In New Jersey, after the discovery that almost 40 percent of its jail inmates were locked up because they couldn't pay bail, the state instituted some of the most sweeping bail reforms in the nation. NewsHour Weekend's Megan Thompson reports the story as part of our "Chasing the Dream" series on poverty and opportunity in America.