Bail Debate

NPR Series Debate on Bail According to the textbook Fundamentals of Criminal Justice, Bail is defined as “money or other security given to the court to ensure that a defendant will appear at every stage of the legal proceedings.” Bail, in laymen terms to a lot of people, is a method for supposed perpetrator of the crime to go free and be in their own environment until their arrangement. When listening to the National Public Radio’s (NPR) Debate on Bail series, it was stated that bail has many issues.

One issue with bail noted by NPR is that people who have money problems can’t afford to make the bail payment which gets them out of jail (Sullivan). With these individuals unable to post bail, they have to spend time in jail which adds to the

This means that they might have to wear an ankle bracelet or are required to have regular check-ins with the program (Sullivan). The pretrial program “costs only a couple dollars a day, compared with the national average of $60 a day in jail.” (Sullivan) According to the NPR report, bondsmen are completely against this program. They feel it is taking away their business, therefore their way of making money. On the other hand, Sheriff David Gutierrez said “Releasing more inmates on their own recognizance seems like an easy solution.” (Sullivan) He went on to say that it’s only in the past twenty years that people are being given the bail opportunity

The lobbyists play a huge role in this situation. They work behind the scenes to facilitate the exchanging of money to groups against the program which could be considered as bribes. The lobbyists are working for the bail bondsmen and only have their interest in mind. With the issues, there are also off-setting positives to consider. One is that it’s cheaper to go through the program instead of being kept in jail using up tax payers money (Sullivan). It helps lower the population overcrowding issue that jails are currently dealing with (Sullivan). The people in the pre-trial release program get to go home to be with family and keep their jobs which allow them to pay bills and keep their homes. All of this has a huge impact on offenders. Because of the cutbacks and stricter sanctions in the program, pre-trial release is no longer available to a large percentage of offenders (Sullivan). If they can’t afford bail they stay in jail, it’s as simple as