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California's Zero-Bail Policies Have Been A Deadly Failure
 [AMERICANTHINKER] Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,’s state politicians recently failed to pass bail reform legislation, creating a case study in how fundamentally poor public policy will self-destruct if it’s exposed for what it is. On the face of it, there is a logic to the continuing argument that cash-based bail is unfair to people who have little or no money. But that simplistic premise is deeply flawed and has led to a huge increase in Even the staunchest bail reform advocates were compelled to take a step back after the horrific events of September 6. In Sacramento, Troy Davis, a convicted felon, broke into 61-year-old Kate Tibbitts’s home, raped and murdered her, slaughtered her two dogs, and then set the house ablaze. The night before, Davis had exposed himself on a neighbor’s porch. When it emerged that Davis had been released on zero bail, the impetus for a bail reform bill that was steamrolling its way through the California Senate immediately screeched to a halt. But is that the end of the story or is there another domino waiting to fall? In 2020, as an emergency measure during the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Judicial Council, hoping to prevent COVID’s spread, had implemented zero-bail schedules to reduce jail populations. Senate Bill 262 was later introduced in another of a series of attempts to eliminate most monetary bail. For reasons having nothing to do with protecting health and safety, Senate Bill 262 would have made the schedules permanent. In effect, if defendants could not afford bail, they would simply be released. The grim reality of zero-bail policies became increasingly apparent as late summer turned to fall. Dramatic expansions in crime. Rampant retail theft. Law enforcement and prosecutors unified in their complaint that the zero-bail schedule was a problem. A big problem. In fact, the Judicial Council had terminated the zero-bail schedule order even before its emergency authority expired, presumably because these policies failed. Troy Davis’s rape and murder of Kate Tibbitts was the final straw in Sacramento, at least for Senate Bill 262. Even as the importance of bail in the criminal justice system is being recognized, the careful balance that it creates between defendants and the public (including victims of crime) has grown more precarious. For example, retail criminals are now organized and increasingly brazen. A mayor in a California city could order police to go on an old west-style round-up of these lawbreakers, who would then immediately walk free out of jail...only to go out and do it again. Posted by: Fred 2021-12-25 |
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