NPR Series Debate on Bail According to the textbook Fundamentals of Criminal Justice, Bail is defined as “money or other security given to the court to ensure that a defendant will appear at every stage of the legal proceedings.” Bail, in laymen terms to a lot of people, is a method for supposed perpetrator of the crime to go free and be in their own environment until their arrangement. When listening to the National Public Radio’s (NPR) Debate on Bail series, it was stated that bail has many issues.
One issue with bail noted by NPR is that people who have money problems can’t afford to make the bail payment which gets them out of jail (Sullivan). With these individuals unable to post bail, they have to spend time in jail which adds to the
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This means that they might have to wear an ankle bracelet or are required to have regular check-ins with the program (Sullivan). The pretrial program “costs only a couple dollars a day, compared with the national average of $60 a day in jail.” (Sullivan) According to the NPR report, bondsmen are completely against this program. They feel it is taking away their business, therefore their way of making money. On the other hand, Sheriff David Gutierrez said “Releasing more inmates on their own recognizance seems like an easy solution.” (Sullivan) He went on to say that it’s only in the past twenty years that people are being given the bail opportunity …show more content…
The lobbyists play a huge role in this situation. They work behind the scenes to facilitate the exchanging of money to groups against the program which could be considered as bribes. The lobbyists are working for the bail bondsmen and only have their interest in mind. With the issues, there are also off-setting positives to consider. One is that it’s cheaper to go through the program instead of being kept in jail using up tax payers money (Sullivan). It helps lower the population overcrowding issue that jails are currently dealing with (Sullivan). The people in the pre-trial release program get to go home to be with family and keep their jobs which allow them to pay bills and keep their homes. All of this has a huge impact on offenders. Because of the cutbacks and stricter sanctions in the program, pre-trial release is no longer available to a large percentage of offenders (Sullivan). If they can’t afford bail they stay in jail, it’s as simple as
On June 2, 1961, some items stolen from Bay Harbor Pool Room, such as five dollars and a few bottles of beer and soda. Henry Cook told the police that he had seen Clarence Gideon walk out of the pool hall with a bottle and his pockets filled with coins, then got into a taxi and left. Gideon was later taken to court, and when he asked for an attorney to defend him he was told that in the state of Florida,you can only be appointed an attorney if you are charged with a capital offense. Since he was only charged with breaking and entering,burglary,and the intent to commit petty larceny,he was not provided one. He did his best to represent himself in the case, but was found guilty and sentenced to 5 years in the state prison.
Commercial bail bond agencies have been around in the United States since the late 1800s. With four states in the United States that have already banned commercial bail bond agencies, one wonders if commercial bail bond agencies are really needed, and if they are important when it comes to pretrial release. This paper will explore bail bond agencies history and how they became what they are today. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the ways that commercial bail bond agencies are important to pre-trial release, and explore the research and statistics that currently explain why commercial bail bond agencies are important.
A San Diego bail bonds agency can handle the situation in an efficient
In many cases, individuals who were released on bail went on to commit further offenses while awaiting trial. This raised concerns about the effectiveness of the existing bail system in deterring reoffending and ensuring that justice was served. Another factor that contributed to the need for bail reform was concerns about community safety. The existing bail system did not adequately address the risks to the community posed by individuals who had been charged with serious offenses. There was a growing perception that the system needed to be reformed to ensure that community safety was given greater consideration in bail decisions.
More people get incarcerated for non-violent crimes and crimes caused by mental illnesses or drug abuse (Webb, 2009) and because these people get put in regular prisons, instead of in mental health facilities or facilities to help against drug addiction, where they could be treated to further prevent crimes driven by their illness (Webb, 2009), the prisons get overfilled and cannot hold the more ‘important’ prisoners that needed to be locked away from the public. A strong link of the criminal justice process is that the system tries to keep it fair for everyone. Every defendant has the right to an attorney so they can be defended properly and fairly and “Only judges who are adequately informed about a case can effectively control the proceedings and examine evidence” (Tochilovsky, 2002) It is also important for the criminal justice system that those involved show discretion and although this is not always the case, discretion by the judges, police, etc.
This is utterly and completely unacceptable. Bail limits and guidelines are a must because day to months long incarceration has an effect on potential jobs, relationships with other people, and is unnecessary when the defendant is not a threat to
Many people, before reading this article, might not have been aware of the rapid increase of incarceration rates and the overcrowding issue. This appeals to the reader’s sense of logic by stating that the vast majority of them are nonviolent because it shows them that that is where the overcrowding issue resides. This gets the readers thinking that alternative ways of dealing with nonviolent offenders might be necessary to solving the issue in the criminal justice system. Zuckerman makes the reader understand that reforming the prison system is a reasonable solution to the many problems generated by non-violent offenders being imprisoned. Not only does the author make the reader aware of the issue, but he provides a logical solution for it.
Our system needs to start making sure that arrests, probations, and incarcerations aren't the first resort. People should be released within a day of being arrested. The only thing they should have to do is show up to their assigned court date. (After Cash Bail) Courts dates need to be assigned soon after the arrest occurs so that all defendants can have a quick and reliable trial. Bail is a terrible way to evade pretrial detention.
This shows how the government should start funding these programs to help lower the jail population. This is why the government should have a sentencing
The sad truth behind the justice system today is that if the defendant doesn’t have money, they have little to no hope of getting through their cases free or in a timely fashion. As people are being stored in jail, valuable money is being wasted. The pretrial services established to cut down on overpopulation are not being used efficiently. Although the justice system is still a work in progress, guidelines have not been established in crucial areas allowing judges to throw bonds at defendants like tennis balls with no specific
Some politicians say cities have become much safer because of the success of the criminal justice system. Jacoby says, “To ease the pressure, nearly all convicted felons are released early -- or not locked up at all.” 58 percent of all murders and 98 percent of all burglaries not result in a prison term. Most of these convicted criminals are on the streets without parole supervision or
Alexander explains how discretion is granted at almost every stage of the legal system, especially regarding the discretion that prosecutors have, jury selection and policing. Also, many of those arrested either get no legal representation or are given public defenders who are too overworked to truly dedicate their time, and rarely go to trial due to the pressures of guilty plea bargains. To add to the misfortune, arrestees are not told how a guilty plea will negatively damage the rest of their life, due to debt, denial of public assistance, loss of voting rights, and the social label of being a felon. Innocent family members are punished sometimes too, for if they are caught housing a criminal they can face losing their home, food stamps, and welfare. Alexander makes it clear that convicted criminals aren’t the only ones being affected by the vicious consequences of the legal system, but that their families are
A flourishing down town with fine dinning and shops. You are few people shy of the population of Dallas and Austin. Life is great, businesses are growing, Families are happy and there is little to none of poverty. Now imagine, all that gone, within a day. You look out the window or up from the porch you are sitting on and see a dark greenish sky.
County jails have had to manage this increased population while ensuring safety and security of both staff and inmates. The need for additional space, staffing, and resources has been a challenge for many county jails, with some struggling to meet the
This paper is to help show how sometimes judges can be Bias or inherent in the amount of bail set and other restrictions for pre-trial release while showing the concept of bail what can be done to prevent arbitrary and potentially prejudiced decisions from being made in the courtroom when it comes to bail by the judge, Also discuss the pros and cons of private vs. public defense. Introduction This paper will show the pros and cons of pre-release and define pre-trail release and bond, arbitrary. bond types also look into the factors of bail amounts a judge looks at to determine how much the defendant’s bail is and a few ways to prevent arbitrary and potentially Prejudice decisions from being made in the court by judges.