What if we ended the injustice of bail? | Robin Steinberg
On any given night, more than 450,000 people in the United States are locked up in jail simply because they don't have enough money to pay bail. The sums in question are often around $500: easy for some to pay, impossible for others. This has real human consequences -- people lose jobs, homes and lives, and it drives racial disparities in the legal system. Robin Steinberg has a bold idea to change this. In this powerful talk, she outlines the plan for The Bail Project -- an unprecedented national revolving bail fund to fight mass incarceration. Her ambitious plan is one of the first ideas of the Audacious Project, TED's new initiative to inspire global change.
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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://www.thepause.com/ted-talks/what-if-we-ended-the-injustice-of-bail-robin-steinberg/
From the trials f the 7 bishops (1688) we learn that prior to the Habeas corpus act of 1676, people were not arrested for a misdemeanor except for a failure to appear to the summons where they would write down the information against them. If they were charged, they wouldn't be charged until the next court term.
Speaking of prison ships, it is interesting that New York has them again. They also have the HMS jersey memorial to remember all the tortured souls upon that ship that rather than join the British military were left there to die of disease and starvation.
There are more problems. The jails aren't as unprofitable as the speaker notes. he fees of a conviction of a misdemeanor is usually $1000, and there are more fees with probation. And they also collect a percent from the jail bondsman. Depending on the state, these fees can go right back to the county general funds. See for example page 33 of the Georgia rules of the magistrate court. Jails are often short term holding facilities. Sometimes they cost $50-70 a day to operate, and the faster they can get people to plead the more profitable they can be. And this often results in rights violations that are left uncheck; cases in equity are likely to become moot first before a court can set them right, and the jailers are likely to hide behind qualified and sovereign immunity. Pre-trial detainees are more likely to be punished than prisoners, even though prisoners are the ones who can be punished whereas pre-trial detainees cannot. Bell v Wolfish.
One of the Ideas in the John Lilburne case (about 1640) was the need to be better than the Romans and the turks-and this theme would come up repeatedly in the treatment of slaves and servants. One would think that with a declaration against England, that there would be a need to be better than the English.
But sadly there are justices out there, William Pryor Comes to mind, who would give their heil hitler to Nazi Germany provided Nazi Germany was an American state given his opinions in some states. His love of Government trampling the rights of the citizens is nothing short of a love for the Antichrist. Scary is the idea that Trump wants him to become a justice on the Supreme court, its bad enough he is on the 11th circuit.