“Justice delayed is justice denied”- William E. Gladstone While examining the current doctrines of the criminal justice complex first hand, I am consistently aware of the multiple inconsistencies, and because no system is perfect one area which should be further examined is due process, with a focus specifically on the bail system. America works on the premise of innocent until proven guilty, but the reality is much more likely the inverse. When looking at the way the bail system is handled in America, you must acknowledge the 8th Amendment which states “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” (US Constitution) While sitting in Dorchester district court though it is …show more content…
The presiding judge did not consider it to be so when he made his ruling, but is the judge unconstitutional? "bail set at a figure higher than an amount reasonably calculated to fulfill its purpose is excessive.” (Wiseman, p. 1387) For a Highschool senior who doesn’t have a criminal background and is in Dorchester District Court it is apparent that this young man comes from an underprivileged community. For all those reasons It is my personal belief that a $100,000 bail is excessive. This case will more likely than not be sent to superior court, but this young man will be held in a jail cell until his trial date. If the bail was set at $10,000 this young man probably would not have been able to make that. The purpose of bail is to prevent “flight risk” my aforementioned bail amount would accomplish that goal, but because the drug the young man was allegedly found in possession of is relatively new, it seems as if the judge made and example of him to establish not only jurisprudence, but general deterrence. This is just one example of how bail is a direct violation of due process rights, due to judicial discretion. Also, I can only imagine being incarcerated at only 17 or 18 years