Comment by qingcharles
20 days ago
It also allowed those with petty crimes to be released, while those with say, homicide charges, to be held.
Previously, if you had lots of liquid money, you could bail out for murder no problem.
I was locked up in Chicago with guys that had $50 bail and nobody to pay it for them.
I'm not sure what you're trying to argue here, but if your premise is that people charged with homicide are given pretrial release in the current no-cash-bail system, no, that's not the case. It's possible that's what you're saying too: that the current system, based on risk assessments rather than liquidity, is better than what preceded it (I'd agree).
I might have worded it badly?
I was trying to say that the system was previously unfair as it allowed violent crimes with long potential sentences bail (if you were rich), while those with petty offenses would be held (because they were poor).
I'm not sure if there is a perfect system, since everyone should be given the benefit of potential innocence, and jailing anyone who might end up being acquitted is a problem.