NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The elected prosecutors of Tennessee have lined up behind Amendment 1, the bail measure voters will see on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference, which represents the district attorneys general of all 32 judicial districts in the state, announced its endorsement Monday.
Right now the Tennessee Constitution promises bail to every defendant unless the charge is a death-penalty offense backed by strong proof. The amendment would rewrite Article I, Section 15 to widen that exception. A court could also hold someone before trial on charges of grave torture, terrorism, second-degree murder, or either form of aggravated rape, including against a child, plus any offense that, as of Nov. 3, 2026, would force a convicted person to serve at least 85% of the sentence.
Denial would not be automatic. Judges would still have to find that the same high evidence standard is met, and the measure adds a new duty: in any of those cases, the judge or magistrate must put the reasons for granting or refusing bail into the record.
Stephen Crump, the conference executive director, said in the group statement that prosecutors see the toll of violent crime on families and victims every day and want judges to have more authority in the most serious cases. He added that the presumption of innocence and a court power to order pretrial detention can exist side by side.
The amendment reached the ballot through two legislatures, first as Senate Joint Resolution 919 in the 113th General Assembly and then as Senate Joint Resolution 25 in the 114th.
Clearing the ballot takes more than a simple majority. According to the Secretary of State, an amendment passes only if yes votes outnumber no votes and the yes total also tops half of all votes cast in the race for governor. The amendments appear on the ballot directly after the governor candidates.
Two other amendments share the ballot: one that would bar the legislature from levying a state property tax, and one that expands rights for crime victims.
Section: More Knoxville TN politics news
Filed under: Knoxville TN Politics News
