In the US we believe in Innocent until proven guilty Yet on any given day in 2022, 658,000 people are incarcerated in jails across the country with more than 80 percent of whom are awaiting trial to determine if they will be convicted of a crime. People who are presumably innocent is spending months in jail and awaiting trial just because they are poor and can’t afford their bail bond. For-profit bail companies get rich by foisting nonrefundable costs onto the very people who can least afford the cost of bail, POOR PEOPLE. These costs are owed even if the charges are dropped or the person is found not guilty at trial.
The pretrial process that is supposed to protect community safety and ensure access to justice has been corrupted by the corporate influence of the commercial bail industry. A small group of large insurance corporations oversees a web of private companies that make an estimated profit of $2.4 billion each year.
The commercial bail industry actively defends cash bail systems that produce racially and economically unjust outcomes, high rates of pretrial incarceration, significant costs to taxpayers, and negative public safety consequences. The commercial bail industry traps people who cannot afford cash bail premiums in a predatory cycle of debt and incarceration, in the same way that payday loan companies and other predatory lenders make a profit by taking advantage of people who need help affording the necessities of daily life. Moreover, commercial bail companies operate with little oversight or accountability, frequently engaging in abusive and unethical practices that jeopardize public trust and undermine the legal system’s ability to administer justice.
I did take a look at the link and I agree. I remember when they first started posting mugshots in the paper in my county and I couldn’t believe that was allowed . But a lot of people thought it was funny at first but you could also go onto the county newspaper Facebook page and comment on them. Pretty soon you had hundreds of people in the comments spewing nothing but hate against these people for things they hadn’t even been convicted of yet. I remember saying that I pray I never get arrested cause I couldn’t imagine reading these things from complete strangers that live around you.
The sad part is that companies like Facebook allow it even though it’s hate speech. Their terms and conditions on hand prohibit hate speech but on the other allows this. It’s sad for the offender which in some, not most, cases might be a minor crime.
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Yes and I did. Thank you for bringing it to our attention because unless you’ve had to go through it yourself or know someone who has you don’t understand the impact it has in demonizing people over minor offenses or in some cases things that end up getting dismissed because they were innocent.
This is to general of a policy. There are many other ways that an offender could harm people in society besides physical violence. For example, if someone scams old people out of all of their money and is a flight risk, he should not automatically avoid bail.
They can still harm people when they are released if they are able to afford their bail bond.
For example say someone is arrested for extortion because they stole from the elderly and someone is arrested for driving on a suspended license. They both get a bail bond set for $15,000. So they can either do option 1: pay the $15,000 and its refunded after they go to court or it’s forfeited if they don’t show or option 2: put up a property deed that the state can seize if they don’t show or option 3: use a bail bondsman to pay it on their behalf for a 15% or more fee which in this case is $2,250 or more however with this option the money is not refunded regardless if they show up for court or if the charges are dropped or if they’re found innocent or finally option 4: you remain in jail until your court date which is usually 6 months or more away. So if you have money it doesn’t cost you anything because it is returned to you but if you’re poor and you don’t have any property or $2250 dollars to give away let alone $25,000 to put it for months you remain in jail. Judges already don’t give bonds for serious offenses.