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Ex-New York Chief Judge: It's time to end cash bail
Fox News ^ | Jonathan Limpan

Posted on 07/13/2018 10:43:56 AM PDT by re_tail20

As the former chief judge of New York, I have seen that money bail doesn’t work.

In New York, like most states, a person who is charged with a crime can be required to put down money as bail, serving as collateral to ensure he or she returns to court. If you can pay, you go home. If you can’t, you go to jail.

In other words, if you are wealthy, you can fight your charges from home with the help of high-end lawyers. If you aren’t, you may have to defend yourself from behind bars, represented by a public defender who is hard-pressed and more than likely overloaded with other cases.

In New York City, only 12 percent of the people who have bail set can pay immediately. The other 88 percent are transported to the infamous jail complex on Rikers Island.

Rikers is a particularly awful place – so bad that an independent commission that I lead determined that the only way to fix Rikers is to close it forever. But whether you are sent to Rikers or any other jail, you are entering a harsh and often dangerous environment that isolates you from your loved ones, your livelihood and your community.

Some people can make bail within a few days, usually relying on money collected by family and friends or borrowed from commercial bondsmen, who charge high fees. Many others stay in jail for months or even years as their cases wind through the courts.

Even a short time in jail can harm your job, your family and your reputation. It can expose you to violence or criminal influences. All this happens before you have been convicted of any crime.

The consequences do not end at the jail doors. Studies show that spending just a few days...

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: New York
KEYWORDS: bail
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To: re_tail20

So, not offering bail at all is the new work around to forbidding excessive bail?

That’s like, oh, I don’t know, requiring people to register their guns online but not having a website for them to do it.

It’s okay because it’s just an administrative concern and they weren’t INTENDING to make you a criminal because you can’t obey their regulation. *nudge*wink*


21 posted on 07/13/2018 11:12:45 AM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: rstrahan

Yup. No one is advocating the release of violent offenders back into the community.

But everyone else could stay with their family pending trial.

Saves taxpayers money and makes sure people get a fair trial.


22 posted on 07/13/2018 11:13:27 AM PDT by goldstategop (Croatian babes look thedThe In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: re_tail20
From Upstate NY this week. Perp might still have been in the slammer if the judge had agreed to raise the bail...

Suspect in Waterloo homicides arrested twice for domestic violence in June

23 posted on 07/13/2018 11:14:26 AM PDT by mewzilla (Has the FBI been spying on members of Congress?)
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To: re_tail20

Oh, my bad. I misread.

Let’s not have bail AT ALL.

How Open Borders of the judge....


24 posted on 07/13/2018 11:14:35 AM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: re_tail20
"...harsh and often dangerous environment that isolates you from your loved ones..."

OMG, you mean if I go to jail, I can't bring my kids with me? They are going to 'rip them out of my arms'??? Oh, the horror!

25 posted on 07/13/2018 11:15:49 AM PDT by C210N (Republicans sign check fronts; 'Rats sign check backs.)
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To: goldstategop
Yup. No one is advocating the release of violent offenders back into the community.

Tell that to the law-abiding citizens of Waterloo, NY.

26 posted on 07/13/2018 11:16:12 AM PDT by mewzilla (Has the FBI been spying on members of Congress?)
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To: re_tail20

Then keep them all in jail in solitary confinement 2 hours from their lawyers like you’re doing to Paul Manafort.


27 posted on 07/13/2018 11:16:51 AM PDT by chris37 ("I am everybody." -Mark Robinson)
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To: re_tail20

Here’s an idea - don’t commit any crimes and you won’t be arrested.


28 posted on 07/13/2018 11:17:17 AM PDT by dainbramaged (My pit bull can solve quadratic equations but she doesn't brag about it.)
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To: goldstategop

California is a failed state, and it has affected your thinking, sounds to me like.


29 posted on 07/13/2018 11:17:26 AM PDT by backwoods-engineer (Enjoy the decline of the American empire.)
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To: re_tail20

Just put explosive collars around their necks. If they fail to show up for the hearing, just push the button.


30 posted on 07/13/2018 11:18:09 AM PDT by kaehurowing
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To: re_tail20
If you get arrested, they bounce you out as soon as they can - especially if you are a non-violent suspect. Jail space is at a premium. Bail is a way to hold the real bad guys in confinement - a free criminal on a spree will do a lot of damage, rippin, robbin, raping and killin. Get them locked up.

I know about this stuff. I have been locked up a time or two in my life.
31 posted on 07/13/2018 11:20:55 AM PDT by olepap (Your old Pappy)
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To: Responsibility2nd

If they start putting rich guys and girls in jail with no bond than maybe there will be prison reform. I think that’s his logic.


32 posted on 07/13/2018 11:25:31 AM PDT by BBell (es-tu stupide):>()
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To: Responsibility2nd

They are trying to do away with the requirement of bail.

They want everyone released on their own recognizance.

What could possibly go wrong?


33 posted on 07/13/2018 11:26:34 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Take a look out there folks. Can you see evidence of a Left Wing Hate Group, perhaps fascist too?)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Sort of smells like the old libtard one size fits all solution: If it doesn’t meet my utopian standards, then let’s apply Haitian standards.


34 posted on 07/13/2018 11:27:52 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (ObaMao: Fake America, Fake Messiah, Fake Black man. How many fakes can you fit into one Zer0?)
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To: cuban leaf

Women and children of bail bondsmen hardest hit.

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Illinois bail bondsmen not concerned that will happen here, since we have no bail bondsmen in Illinois.


35 posted on 07/13/2018 11:33:10 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.)
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To: Graybeard58

Do they just set bail low, or do people find that they usually can’t make bail?


36 posted on 07/13/2018 11:34:09 AM PDT by cuban leaf (The US will not survive the obama presidency. The world may not either.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

a better question is he white?


37 posted on 07/13/2018 11:36:13 AM PDT by bert ((K. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... In August our cities will be burning))
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To: cuban leaf

10% of bail to be posted by the accused.


38 posted on 07/13/2018 11:42:33 AM PDT by Graybeard58 (The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.)
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To: re_tail20

Billionaire Harvey Weinstein gets a multiple rape rap and his bail is a million bucks...That would be like charging me a dollar for bail...But no, I’d have to mortage my house and car and perhaps my relatives would have to do the same, for me...


39 posted on 07/13/2018 11:44:04 AM PDT by Iscool
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To: re_tail20

I think his point is that the Judge should make the determination as to the likelihood of the defendant returning for trial based on facts presented.

Low risk - let him/her out; high risk - detain them.

Don’t make it an economic issue (afford or can’t afford bail).

Clearly, the ones that get out on bail have a higher reason to come back (the 12%). That works.

Issue is the ones that are a low flight risk but have no money. Is it fair to them? Obviously not. However, I query whether someone without means for bail can get together a story strong enough to convince a Judge that they will return. Likely not?

Concept makes sense; but the first one let out without bail that kills someone or commits a serious crime; Judge will have different approach second time: back to the drawing board.


40 posted on 07/13/2018 11:59:33 AM PDT by dan on the right
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