When I talk to my friends and neighbors in Cheshire County, our conversations usually revolve around everyday life, our families, our jobs and our hopes for our communities. At the core of these conversations is a simple expectation that we all share, that our neighborhoods, local businesses and schools are safe places to live and to grow.
But for seven long years following the 2018 bail reform experiment, that basic sense of security felt like it was slipping away. We watched a flawed system prioritize the convenience of repeat offenders over the safety of innocent victims. This created a revolving door of crime that left our local police departments working overtime just to catch the same individuals over and over again.
When the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee took up the task of repairing this broken system, we were not looking to score cheap political points. We were looking out for the real people who had to live with the consequences of this failed system. That is why we championed House Bill 592, which took effect in September 2025, bringing a much-needed return to common sense.
The path to passing this critical public safety law was not easy, and Concord’s political games almost derailed it. During the heat of the debate, House Democrat Deputy Floor Leader Nick Germana led a direct effort to table the bill completely, a clear attempt to hinder this vital reform. I voted, as vice chair of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, to block the delay tactic because I believe the safety of your family should never take the backseat to partisan maneuvering.
Lately, some of my colleagues on the committee, including Representative Buzz Scherr, have reemerged to criticize these new protections. They have labeled our adjustments draconian and argued that we should just wait and give the old system more time to play out. But when you step past the abstract legal theories discussed in academic rooms and look at the actual data on public safety, you see a completely different story.
In the very first six months after our tougher bail rules took effect, Manchester police tracked a 69 percent decrease in offenders released on cashless personal recognizance bail. Cash bail releases dropped by 81 percent. Decisions by judges to hold truly dangerous individuals without bail rose by 33 percent. What followed this change was not a crisis, but a measurable and welcome decline in crime.
To those who argue that holding chronic offenders before trial is a weird thing to celebrate, or those who complain that keeping communities safe places too much of a burden on county jail budgets, I ask you to look at the human cost of doing nothing. Before these crucial fixes, we watched entirely preventable tragedies take place across our state because individuals were processed, released and put right back onto our streets.
Our reforms did not destroy core protections for low-income individuals accused of minor, nonviolent infractions. What we did was restore critical discretion to our judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers. The law now simply states that if you are a demonstrated danger to society, or if you are arrested for a new crime while already out on bail, you will stay behind bars until a judge can properly evaluate your case.
Out here in the real world, the reality of public safety is practical, not theoretical. If our citizens do not feel safe walking into a local restaurant, visiting a neighborhood park or sleeping soundly in their homes, then the system has failed them completely. Ensuring public safety is the single most fundamental duty of government. New Hampshire remains one of the safest states in the nation because this is what we have prioritized. I will always stand firmly with our law enforcement and our victims to ensure our communities stay safe.
Rep. Jennifer Rhodes, R-Winchester, represents Cheshire County District 17, which also includes the towns of Richmond, Swanzey, Troy, and Fitzwilliam.
