“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 bail system that unfairly keeps poor people locked up needs reform, according to California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.
“We must not penalize the poor for being poor,” Cantil-Sakauye said in her annual State of the Judiciary address to the California Legislature.
“50,000 more drivers needed to meet demand, according to the American trucking associations.” New York Times“Need Fuels Trucking’s Diversity Push” July 28, 2018
“Alarmingly high numbers of Americans continue to pay more than half of their income toward rent.” HUD Secretary Ben Carson NYT July 28, 2018
This follows the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the cash bail system in San Francisco on Feb. 1 by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, the San Francisco Chronicle noted.
CA supreme court
The plaintiffs have since filed a narrower version of their lawsuit that focuses on the period just after arrest when the sheriff’s office sets bail, reported the Chronicle.
“We need more pretrial release programs to balance safety against the need to post bail,” the chief justice said. Holding people on bail may be both unfair to the poor and ineffective at preventing crime, she added.
“The National Low Income Housing Coalition found that a working earning minimum wage could afford a market rate one-bedroom apartment in only 22 of the country’s 3,000 counties.” NYT July 28, 2018
“In 1935 the Supreme Court declared that a prosecutors job is more than merely winning every case by racking up convictions; it also included seeing that justice is done.” “Pressing Pause on Marijuana Convictions” NYT Opinion July 30, 2018
She said she has appointed Martin Hoshino, the administrative director of the California courts, to head a national task force to study the bail-setting program.
At present, there are release programs in 12 local courts that place defendants under supervision, rather than holding them until they can post bail reported the Chronicle.
https://sanquentinnew.wpengine.com/criminal-justice-advocates-seeking-bail-system-reform/
https://sanquentinnew.wpengine.com/prison-newspaper-100th-edition/
https://sanquentinnew.wpengine.com/prison-reform-free-30000-inmates/
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