California becomes first state eliminating cash bail

Big Chief

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/28/california-to-become-first-state-eliminating-bail-for-suspects-awaiting-trial.html

http://fortune.com/2018/08/28/california-becomes-the-first-state-to-officially-eliminate-cash-bail/

Big Chief

Well Bail Bondsmen and Bounty Hunters sure don't like it.

I see pros and cons of the law. On one hand if ALL violent criminals/sex offenders are held behind bars until they get a hearing, that can be a good thing in a lot of cases, but what is a 'Violent' crime ......................what a judge says it is?

Like everything else it will be abused. Don't care what logarithm/metrics they are gonna use to determine who can get out on bail and who can't.

Then again, in the past if you were poor and can't afford bail.............you are screwed. Whereas someone with some means to get bail can walk out of jail who committed the very same crime, poor man stays in the slammer.

It's a tough one. We all want equal justice for all............but it never really has worked out that way has it, far as bail and fancy pants lawyers folks can afford because they have an edge over many that can sway the system in their favor more than person of lessor means.

Big Chief

Sure posting bail is like an insurance policy that they will show up for their court date. If they don't then they and their family and friends lose whatever they put up as collateral.

Make_My_Day

Typical socialist policy. If you think Commiefornia is a socialist state now, wait until Gavin Newsom, former mayor of San Francisco gets elected Governor. He is advocating welfare for all, including illegal aliens, as a policy that was introduced by him when he was the Mayor. No wonder Kimberly Guilfoyle divorced the commie sonofabitch. BTW, San Francisco has literally turned into a sewer, under Democrat leadership. CA is now 1.3 TRILLION in debt. I wonder how much more debt will be accumulated under a Newsom administration.

Big Chief

Kimberly Guilfoyle is dating Donald Trump Jr and she left Fox news a bit back.

FFLshooter

Most bonds are only 5 or 10% of the actual set bond, but what happened to innocent until proven guilty?

Big Chief

You gotta pay and prove your innocence.

Big Chief

Of course that percentage in non-refundable even if you are found not guilty in court. You can in most places post your own to the jurisdiction at the full amount. I guess you get that all back if you win............I dunno. Unless some fees are attached, which are probably less than a bondsman charges.

rberglof

You do not have to be legal to get welfare in California nor to get a small business loan, in fact you will have an easier time getting a small business loan if you don't know English. My wife tried to get a small business loan and the guy as much as told her that.

A friend of hers aunt who was here illegally got a loan at about that same time.

bisley

The law has one thing in common with the majority of radical new ideas - unexpected consequences. The unexpected consequences usually result from the simplest of oversights, and this one is no different. In this case, how obvious is it that criminals who have no valid defense are simply going to disappear, rather than stand trial?

The question that citizens need to be asking the politicians who dreamed this up is how many hardened criminals is it acceptable to put back on the streets, in order to help the poor folks that may have been falsely charged with a crime they didn't commit?

In order to find an answer to that question, they first have to determine how many people are falsely arrested. I'm betting that they are already dropping the charges and releasing most of those people, due to 'prosecutorial discretion.' Big city prosecutors are nearly always going to perform 'legal triage,' to keep their conviction statistics high and further their own careers. How many minor cases are plea-bargained, with the result being suspended sentences or immediate parole? How many cases do they drop, and blame the police for not correctly handling or gathering the evidence?

By the time they answer all of these questions, I'm betting that the number of bad arrests becomes a very low one, and that by any reasonable standard, the new law will mostly be releasing criminals that will take off when their lawyers inform them that they will be going to jail.

horselips

AHHH, the "laboratory of the states" at work. Let's see what happens....