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, @03:40AM
The other thing that happens is that sometimes there's multiple attorneys over the course of the proceedings, usually not so much for misdemeanors, but with felony charges sometimes the original attorneys leave or are reassigned and the new attorneys have to start over familiarizing themselves with the case.
Really, any amount of time beyond what it takes to schedule an arraignment is too long to be in jail pending charges unless there's something about the defendant that warrants having them in jail while the case is pending. Having the defendant sitting in jail makes the whole process of mounting a defense significantly less convenient as the attorney has to go to visit the accused and phone calls are a pain.