NPR’s story on our bail system in the U.S. is fascinating and disgusting.
If you are charged with a crime and you have the money for the bondsman you go free. If you don’t have the funds you languish in jail—guilty or not.
And when you are in jail you can’t do the work necessary to defend yourself—guilty or not—and you can’t hold down a job that would convince a judge or jury that you deserve parole rather than a jail sentence.
For some defendants, for lack of a few hundred dollars, they spend years in jail and have an incentive to plead guilty just to minimize jail time—even if not guilty.
And why do we still have this obviously unjust system in place? Because of the political bribes paid by bail bondsmen.
Tags: bail bonds, Crime, Justice
