senate Bill S. 3271
Ending Money Bail in Federal Courts & Cutting States’ Grant Funding Unless They Follow Suit
Argument in favor
America’s prison system is far too big, in part because many accused criminals are too poor to afford their bail and have to remain in custody until their court date. Money bail has effectively criminalized poverty and created a ‘debtor prison’ system, and the federal gov’t should do what it can to undo it.
09/29/2018
Money bail penalizes the poor. It can cause people to lose their jobs before they’ve even had their day in court. We have to find a better way.
09/29/2018
This so call “American Way” of conducting business is the biggest sham corruption in history! We have to create a better way of living. Capitalism is a sin...it’s built on greed and deception and has to be changed.
09/30/2018
Obviously some idiots here have forgotten that A. bail happens BEFORE the trial B. our criminal justice system works on the premise that you are INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY, and C. not everybody that gets arrested actually did anything wrong. You assholes.
Argument opposed
While the money bail system needs some obvious reforms to prevent abuses, it shouldn’t be eliminated altogether at the federal level and the federal government shouldn’t coerce states into changing their pretrial release system by threatening to withhold grants.
07/28/2018
?WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS FOR RELEASE IF NO BAIL?
I’m OPPOSED to the Senator Sanders Bill S- 3272, a bill to prohibit the use of payment of money as a condition of pretrial release in Federal criminal cases, and for other purposes.
The question additionally remains as to what means are individuals to be released pretrial in any criminal cases. Is their promise, to appear any future hearings, going to be sufficient. How about sentencing to pay for damages incurred? OR the payment of past and future child support payments?
The legislation would prohibit the use of money bail in federal criminal proceedings and seek to encourage states to move away from the use of money bail by offering grants through the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) to implement alternate pretrial detention systems.
Does it mean, that by offering grants through the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) to implement alternate pretrial detention systems, infer that individuals will be incarcerated rather than being released?
Beginning three years after this bill’s enactment, states would be prohibited from receiving DOJ grants if they still use money bail systems. Additionally, DOJ would be required to produce a study three years after the bill’s enactment. While the money bail system needs some obvious reforms to prevent abuses, it shouldn’t be eliminated altogether at the federal level and the federal government shouldn’t coerce states into changing their pretrial release system by threatening to withhold grants.
7*27*18 ...... SneakyPete.........
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10/01/2018
This removes the penalty for not showing up to court. It removes the penalty for people that for the most part have demonstrated unreliability. I see no change required for system.
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09/29/2018
What is the compelling need here? More Federal coercion of the States. No thanks.
Money bail penalizes the poor. It can cause people to lose their jobs before they’ve even had their day in court. We have to find a better way.
?WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS FOR RELEASE IF NO BAIL?
I’m OPPOSED to the Senator Sanders Bill S- 3272, a bill to prohibit the use of payment of money as a condition of pretrial release in Federal criminal cases, and for other purposes.
The question additionally remains as to what means are individuals to be released pretrial in any criminal cases. Is their promise, to appear any future hearings, going to be sufficient. How about sentencing to pay for damages incurred? OR the payment of past and future child support payments?
The legislation would prohibit the use of money bail in federal criminal proceedings and seek to encourage states to move away from the use of money bail by offering grants through the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) to implement alternate pretrial detention systems.
Does it mean, that by offering grants through the Dept. of Justice (DOJ) to implement alternate pretrial detention systems, infer that individuals will be incarcerated rather than being released?
Beginning three years after this bill’s enactment, states would be prohibited from receiving DOJ grants if they still use money bail systems. Additionally, DOJ would be required to produce a study three years after the bill’s enactment. While the money bail system needs some obvious reforms to prevent abuses, it shouldn’t be eliminated altogether at the federal level and the federal government shouldn’t coerce states into changing their pretrial release system by threatening to withhold grants.
7*27*18 ...... SneakyPete.........
This so call “American Way” of conducting business is the biggest sham corruption in history! We have to create a better way of living. Capitalism is a sin...it’s built on greed and deception and has to be changed.
Obviously some idiots here have forgotten that A. bail happens BEFORE the trial B. our criminal justice system works on the premise that you are INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY, and C. not everybody that gets arrested actually did anything wrong. You assholes.
Poverty is not a crime! Get rid of our archaic Bail system. Take a close look at how other countries 2018- deal with criminal offenders. Germany is a great example. In USA we focus on Retribution. In Germany the focus is on Rehabilitation and Accountability. Human Dignity is respected in Germany’s approach to dealing with offenders in their criminal justice system. And the community is better off altogether as these offenders are going to return to the community, maybe your neighbor.
This is an unfair practice. Do not jail people awaiting trial for nonviolent crimes and plan on reimbursement for anyone liked up before a trial if they are found innocent. As the system stands, anyone not rich or famous enough to buy their way out of it, gets put in prison without a trial based only on the accusation. Glaringly unConstitutional!
I was surprised to see how the opinions for this were going. I didn’t think it would be the type of issue that would follow party lines. But the same hard line Trump supporters who are always preaching he’s looking out for us, which he’s not, we’re strongly opposed to giving a break to those who could really use one. Just sayin.
This becomes a 'guilty until proven innocent' situation, and destroys the lives of many, especially the poor.
The cash bail system should end. It only helps the rich who can afford it. If your poor your stuck in jail. All because your poor. Many innocent people are locked up in jail every year awaiting trial. Just because there poor. This practice must end.
This is wonderful. People will have an equal chance of staying out of jail & continuing to be a productive part of society until trial. Besides there would be no need for private jails to house the poor people who can’t afford money bail. Great BILL
With any luck, we might actually get some bipartisanship on this! The bail system has needed reform for decades.
The bail system has become something that favors the rich. If you can afford an attorney you often get out that day with little to no bail. If you have to rely on a court appointed attorney, then often people plead guilty, even when innocent. Because they can’t afford to wait. While they wait they loose their job. If they loose their job they can’t pay the rent or put food on the table. And that conviction will prevent them from getting better jobs later in life. It creates a vicious cycle that is difficult if not impossible to break free of.
Money bail criminalizes poverty. It’s archaic and should be abolished.
Thank you Senator Sanders! Yes! This is exactly what we should do!
Why would anyone be against this? Holding people in jail because they don’t have money and haven’t been found guilty should be a crime in itself.
This is a great bill! We throw so many people in prison just because they can’t afford cash bail prior to the trial. We need to have more supervisory releases for non-violent defendants while they are awaiting trial while keeping those who have been indicted for truly violent crimes in prison until their trials.
America’s prison system is far too big, in part because many accused criminals are too poor to afford their bail and have to remain in custody until their court date. Money bail has effectively criminalized poverty and created a ‘debtor prison’ system, and the federal gov’t should do what it can to undo it.
Why should a guilty person get off scot-free just because they have money? What about wrongly-charged persons of poverty or lower socioeconomic status who HAVE to pay for the crimes that they did not commit, just because they could not bail out?
This removes the penalty for not showing up to court. It removes the penalty for people that for the most part have demonstrated unreliability. I see no change required for system.