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Modern American Bail System Essay

732 Words3 Pages

The framers of the Constitution set forth the rules regarding individual liberty and justice which citizens are endowed by their creator. However within the modern criminal justice system, certain rights guaranteed by the Constitution have been violated. One such example is the current bail system which often acts in contrast to the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. With courts often setting large bail requirements that are difficult to meet for accused offenders, the current state of the criminal justice system often denies the accused of their rights under the Excessive Bail Clause. Ultimately the modern bail process within the criminal justice system is one area that is deeply needed of reform.

In order to better understand this issue …show more content…

Perhaps the best way to do this would be to solely base bails off of risk assessments. By using the basis of risk for bails, then the system improves as it no longer disproportionately discriminates against people from low income backgrounds. Moreover this approach is within the limits of the Constitution as the basis of dangerous is not per se unconstitutional according to the precedents set forth by United States v. Salerno ("Bail").

Ultimately, as shown the modern American bail system fails to protect the constitutional rights of the accused. By setting overly high bail amounts, judges often discriminate against people who are of lesser financial status since they do not have the ability to pay. Moreover this process also benefits those with wealth since they are able to pay their bails even if the accused evil committed is worse than that of someone with a lower income. The quest to bring true blind justice within the context of the Constitution to the American bail system remains and will likely be a hard fight. However the goal of having equality with regards to the bail system is greatly needed and the fight for such reforms will ultimately prove worthy as protecting constitutional rights is perhaps our greatest

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