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from the Rich-and-poor-treated-the-same dept.
California Governor Jerry Brown has signed Senate Bill 10, the California Money Bail Reform Act, eliminating cash bail in the state:
An overhaul of the state's bail system has been in the works for years, and became an inevitability earlier this year when a California appellate court declared the state's cash bail system unconstitutional. The new law goes into effect in October 2019. "Today, California reforms its bail system so that rich and poor alike are treated fairly," Brown said in a statement, moments after signing the California Money Bail Reform Act.
The governor has waited nearly four decades to revamp the state's cash bail system. In his 1979 State of the State Address, Brown argued the existing process was biased, favoring the wealthy who can afford to pay for their freedom, and penalizing the poor, who often are forced to remain in custody.
[...] Under the California law those arrested and charged with a crime won't be putting up money or borrowing it from a bail bond agent to obtain their release. Instead, local courts will decide who to keep in custody and whom to release while they await trial. Those decisions will be based on an algorithm created by the courts in each jurisdiction.
Bail agents disapprove.
See also: California's 'cautionary tale' for others considering no cash bail system
California's bail bond empire strikes back
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 04 2018, @01:38AM (1 child)
Do you really think they are not going to sit in jail for a year or more? That is still going to happen.
It is an interesting experiment. Shall be interesting to see how it works out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 04 2018, @02:28AM
Yes, but if they're in jail, the amount of money they have won't be as significant a factor. If they're sitting in jail for that long, it will be because the charges are particularly serious and the case is particularly complicated, not because they lacked the funds to post bond.
No system is perfect and some innocent people are going to be sitting behind bars awaiting trial, the question is whether we strive to keep those situations to cases where the defendant might be dangerous.
People being in jail for long periods over such a relatively small amount of money was never the intent, people being in jail for large sums of money is somewhat intentional. However, even there, a million dollar bail isn't much if you're worth a billion dollars, but it's also more than what a poor person might make in an entire lifetime.