Modern Problems In The Current Bail System – Civil Right’s Group Looking Pass Bail Reform

It seems like the problems for the bail bond industry are not ending anytime sooner as the civil right groups have now decided that they will launch a nationwide campaign against the multi-billion Bail Bond industry.

The bail bond industry has been flourishing and reaping huge profits based on the controversial bail system for quite a long time now. The deputy national political director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Udi Ofer was quoted as saying that the civil rights groups are committed to putting an end to the bail bond industry. Today, Southern Bail Bonds will cover how a civil rights group is looking to pass a law on the current bail system.

Our “200-Year-Old Bail System”

He also added that the civil rights groups will now appeal to voters and lawmakers to oppose the ones who are trying to save the much debated and archaic 200 years old bail bonds system, which has become a monopoly of the rich and a curse for the poor, as a part of their “public opposition campaign”.

Under the current system, a wealthy person can easily escape pre-trial detention for any offense, however, grave it may be, whereas the poor are unlikely to find their way out due to the paucity of funds, which eventually impacts their professional and personal life and can cause irreparable mental and physical trauma.

How The Rich Can Avoid Jail Time

It is highly detrimental for the society in the long run than those who have money can avoid the jail even for heinous crimes such as rapes and murders and those without money can be kept in jails even for minor offenses. It is in fact quite discriminatory to grant the freedom on the basis of money a person has. It is often observed that the ones who prefer to borrow money from a Bail Bondsman at exorbitant rates of interests often end up in a debt trap.

The civil rights groups plan to hold community gatherings, which will act as a motivation for the people to join the national movement, which has the potential to change the system and end this discrimination and inequality that has plagued the system since times immemorial. They may even consider using the industry in the court of law.

Civil Rights Group Looking To End Bail Bonds

The Civil Rights Groups want to put the bail bonds industry to death as the industry has been constantly meddling with the internal affairs of the system through lobbying and influencing the lawmakers to keep the bail system alive and oppose the reform process.

Buoyed by the success of their victories in the form of legislation, lawsuits and judicial orders, the reformers have been convincing the local and state governments to replace the bail system of a bygone era with a more sophisticated and modern tools, based on the risk assessment algorithms that will segregate the potential repeat offender from the lot without discriminating anyone on the basis of bank balance. The reformers have also been appealing the lawmakers to withstand pressure from the lobbying attempts by the Bail Bond industry.

The Proposed New Bail Bonds System

The New System, which has been developed after extensive research over the years and fed by Metadata of criminal cases, takes into account the criminal history of a defendant and categorizes the defendant into high and low-risk categories, without considering the financial status or financial assessment of the defendant. Although the final decision-making authority is the judge it certainly eliminates money from the judicial process. New Jersey Courts have been using this risk assessment tool for some time now and results have been quite positive. New Jersey Courts Criminal Justice reform data and the statements made by court officials testify the same. Non-dangerous or low-risk people who cannot afford to pay the bail amount are being released whereas the dangerous elements or high-risk individuals of the society are being detained despite having deep pockets.

Although, these risk assessment tools are already being used in many jurisdictions and positive news has come from the likes of Alaska which has waived the bail and the Comptroller of New York City who has demanded a complete ban on commercial bail bonds, but spreading the reforms on a pan American basis will certainly going to be huge challenge and will take up a lot of effort.

On one hand where the reformers are all cheered up on the positive developments that have taken place recently, on other hand representatives from the bail bond industry and individual bondsmen which are supported by the uber rich and influential insurance companies have also upped their ante and have started arguing that they are providing indispensable service to the public by taking the liability of the defendants to make them appear in the court and further state that the elimination of bail will lead to the violation of the constitutional Bill of Rights as the bail system has been enshrined in it. Moreover, it will put a huge burden on the state exchequer and also put the public at risk.

This movement, if successful, may be the final nail in the coffin for the bail bond industry, realizing this fact, the industry is leaving no stone unturned and has been constantly supporting the two federal lawsuits in New Jersey. It has also filed a federal lawsuit against New Mexico Supreme Court for its new bail rules. The industry is also intensifying its legal activities in the cities of Maryland, Houston, New Orleans and San Francisco. Moreover, they are trying to garner as much political support as
possible.

With philanthropic billionaire Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan joining the initiative last year via the Chan Zuckerberg initiative, has certainly provided a huge moral and monetary boost to the Civil Rights Groups that are pitted against the powerful and influential bail bond industry, the reform movement has a long way to go before the reformers can bask in glory of discrimination-free judicial system. Although the new risk assessment tool based on algorithms may have certain flaws and is far from being the perfect replacement for the outdated and discriminatory bail system this is the best bet for the time being. Since improvement is a constant process; the future of this tool seems to be quite bright.


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