bail system

Criminal justice advocates are seeking to reform the California bail system reports online journalist Steven Greenhaut.

Opponents say the system forces poor people to plea bargain their cases to avoid spending months in jail and a slow judicial process but allows wealthy defendants to be free pending trial.

Greenhaut reported last November in reason.com that bills will be introduced in the next California Legislature session to reform the bail system.

“64% of California’s jail population is awaiting trial or sentencing as of December 2016.” Most remain in pretrial custody because they cannot afford bail. Jail Profile Survey, http://www.bscc.ca.gov/

The stated purpose of bail is to ensure the appearance of a defendant in court.

Proponents of the system say the system works well. “When it comes to guaranteeing appearance at court, surety bail outperforms every form of public sector pretrial release and own recognizance release as well,” according to the American Bail Coalition.

Opponents points out some of the problems. “Over time the discussion about bail [has become]: Does it really serve its purpose of keeping people safe? Because if you’re wealthy and you commit a heinous crime, you can make bail,” California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said in a March 2016 editorial board meeting with the Sacramento Bee.

Their lives becomes disenfranchised if they are incarcerated and not working, resulting in losing their possessions and housing. Moreover, they lose custody of their children to Child Protective Services. This is a problem for 60 percent of people incarcerated in California jails, who have not yet been sentenced, said the report.

A study done by nonpartisan Public Policy Institute shows: “From 2000 to 2009…The median bail amount in California ($50,000) is more than five times the median amount in the rest of the nation (less than $10,000).”

The U.S. Justice Department found in Georgia that bail practices “incarcerate indigent individuals before trial solely because of their inability to pay for their release.” That violates the 14^th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the department reported.

Greenhaut was the Union-Tribune’s California columnist. He is western region director for the R Street Institute and is based in Sacramento.

Right to Police Transparency

Prison yard 1800s

Overcrowding in county jails has California reviewing its bail practices.
California’s bail practices have clogged the jails and become a tool that preemptively punishes the poor. Many individuals who pose no threat to society are jailed while awaiting trial.
Realignment shifted many state prisoners to county jails.

Like a flood moving downstream, this prison to county jail overcrowding has become an urgent issue according to the editorial board of The Sacramento Bee.
Does bail “…really serve its purpose of keeping people safe? Because if you’re wealthy and you commit a heinous crime, you can make bail,” said the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, Tani Cantil-Sakauye to the editorial board.
The next phase of criminal justice reform may be the courts. California’s court system promises a fair and speedy trail but only seems to offer a choice between jail or accepting a plea deal for the poor awaiting trial. The median bail for California is $50,000 – about five times that of most other states.
What was once a tool to compel the accused to appear in court has become a trap ensnaring only the poor. “We have to take a look at whether we are contributing to the problem,” Cantil-Sakauye said.
Sixty-two percent of the people in county jails are awaiting trial, estimates The Public Policy Institute of California. This stunning statistic had gone unnoticed until jail capacity became stretched by the influx of prisoners resulting from realignment. Further, realignment has lifted the one-year cap on jail terms so that beleaguered county jails now have some inmates serving sentences of five or more years.
Inspired by Arizona’s and Kentucky’s reform of their pretrial court systems so that bail is rarely used, California is participating in a multistate taskforce to identify alternatives to bail or jail. Sponsored by the Conference of Chief Justices, this taskforce seeks to develop best practices for supervised release programs as an alternative to bail. The recommended reforms may be implemented in numerous states, including California.
While a powerful California bail bond industry challenges the dismantling of the bail system, the federal government may require California to implement alternatives to bail such as those being considered by the taskforce. The U.S. Department of Justice warned in March that “any bail practices that result in incarceration based on poverty violate the 14th Amendment” in response to numerous suits challenging bail practices.
The editorial board of The Sacramento Bee contends that in the current environment of criminal justice reform, the indignity of being poor should not include a bleak choice between pre-trial jail, accepting a one-sided plea deal or being buried under bail debt.
http://sanquentinnews.com/criminal-justice-advocates-seeking-bail-system-reform/
https://sanquentinnews.com/chan-zuckerberg-initiative-czi-aids-programs/

Prison reform could free 30,000 inmates says CSJ

Boatwright

Criminal justice advocates seeking bail system reform

Overcrowding in County Jails Changes Bail Practices