The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Time to bail out the system?
Many activists say current rules negatively impact poor, people of color
The criminal justice system has a simple goal at its core: those who have committed crimes are punished and those who have not go free.
But, sometimes the amount of money in a defendant’s bank account decides whether they will go free or sit in jail until the slow wheels of justice vindicate them.
This is at the core of a national conversation about the bond or bail system with many activists saying the current system has a
disproportionately negative impact on the poor and people of color.
The bonds
Lorain County Prosecutor Dennis Will said the purpose of bond is to first make sure someone appears for court.
The second purpose is to protect the public if the defendant is accused of a heinous crime, Will said.
“In the state of Ohio, if you are arrested for anything other than a minor misdemeanor, they can require that you post some sort of bail,” he said. “Bail can either be cash, like $100.
“And if you post that and return for court, you get that back. You could have to post surety, where you go to a bonding company.
“Say you have a $10,000 bail and you don’t have $10,000 in cash, then you go to a surety and basically pay the bonding agent to write a policy, kind of like an insurance policy, that says they guarantee that you show up (to court). And if you don’t, they will pay $10,000 and in return you pay them a high premium, probably about 10 percent of that or more which you do not get back no matter whether you show up or not.”
Will said there is a third option where someone can post a property bond, for those who can’t afford the fees on a bonding company and someone posts a piece of property valued at at least double the bond.
“If you don’t appear, then you have the possibility of losing whatever you put up, whether it be property, whether it be a surety, or cash,” Will said.
This loss of surety, which more impacts the bonding companies, is why such organizations will hire bounty hunters to bring defendants who have skipped court in, he said.
There is another tool open to courts as well, what Will said is called the 10 percent rule.
“Especially on (driving under the influence) cases and (driving under suspension) cases, when I used to be a policeman, the bond was $1,000 and the judge would say, ‘We’ll let you post 10 percent of that,” he said.
While these measures involve posting an item of value to insure your return to court, Will said a personal recognizance bond involves defendants signing an agreement with the court saying they will return to court.
If they do not return, the court can set an amount of money that absent defendants will be required to forfeit.
“Usually, it’s a matter of you just giving your personal word that you’re going to appear,” Will said. Fair bonds
Civil rights groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, say these bonds are set at levels too high for people to pay, leaving them sitting in jail for months or years awaiting trial or they will simply plead guilty, giving up their right to defend themselves in exchange for the chance to walk free.
“The ACLU Campaign for Smart Justice is fighting in the courts and in state legislatures to end the unjust bail system, which often profits private bail insurance companies,” the organization’s website said. “Current bail practices are unconstitutional in violating due process rights and equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment, the prohibition against excessive bail in the Eighth Amendment, and the right to a speedy trial guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment.”
There’s also been a push within the state to reform the system, Will said.
“They’re trying to find a better way to deal with people that get arrested that you want to make sure appear in court,” he said. “They’re trying to come up with an evaluation system or like a risk assessment system to see how big a risk someone is to not come back to court or to cause harm to somebody.”
There are multiple processes being investigated across the country, but Will said the Ohio Supreme Court is looking at making changes so judges could use one of these tools and allow more people out on personal bonds.
“That way they’re not in the jails and they can go back to work if they have a job and they don’t just sit there and idly bide the time of the courts and the jail,” he said.
Will isn’t sure what the court ultimately will decide, but the justices have had discussions and the city of Cleveland actively is looking for a better way.
As for Lorain County courts, Will characterizes his office as being “fair minded” when it comes to bonds.
“We work with the defense attorneys,” he said. “We have people turn themselves as opposed to post a bond.
“But if someone is a risk and someone has committed a serious offense, which means they’ll be a high flight risk, then we’ll ask for a high bond.”
Lorain-based defense attorney J. Anthony Rich said the county courts and prosecutors mostly are pretty reasonable.
“I think the judges are consistent with their bonds,” Rich said. “Each of the judges in the county have been on the bench a while and are aware of what’s consistent, what the bond should be on a murder case, what the bond should be on a felonious assault case and what the bond should be in a low-level felony case.”
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