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Posts Tagged ‘pretrial release’
Why Pretrial Release does not Work
Sunday, August 9th, 2009Why Bail Bondsman are Important. We have facts!
Thursday, March 12th, 2009An interesting article rel;eased today by the Washington Examiner. Finally we have news articles that defend our industry. Just to start, here are some interesting Data: 30% of defendants released on Government bail (or pretrial release) fail to appear for their courts date. Only 19% fail to appear with commercial bail bondsman. i Philadelphia alone, the government ran bail program has cost the city over $1 billion dollars.
The government has proven ineffectively to control and regulate the bail industry costing taxpayers million of dollars a year. More importantly, too many criminals are set free too early and without any incentive to answer for their charges. With commercial bail, the defendant, bail bondsman, and an Indemnitor are held financially responsible to ensure his/her appearance in court.
Oregon District Attorney Joshua Marquis says, “[T]he failure-to-appear rate has skyrocketed,”. Oregon did away with the commercial bail industry back in 1978. the cost to rearrange court dates, find the fugitive, and a number of other reasons that would cost the taxpayers more money is just a few items that make commercial bail bondsman more important.
It is a defendants right to bail, not a privilege. However releasing someone with a hefty criminal background on their own recognizance is ridiculous. Someone need to be held responsible for their release from jail. Commercial bail bondsman, all around, have a much lower failure to appear rate than government ran pretrial release programs. This cost the taxpayers less money and keeps our judicial system running a little smoother.
Florida Bail Bondsman and the Florida public have begun to experience the problems with pretrial release programs. The failure to appear rate is also begining to rise at an increasing rate. If something is not done to stop government ran bail programs, we will find ourselves in the same mess as other states who have no commercial bail. With the economic times that we are in now, it just makes sense to keep this industry private and save the taxpayer money for more important programs. Read the full story here.
Broward County may be doing away with Pretrial Intervention
Monday, March 9th, 2009Broward County Florida – Broward County has always been know for its overcrowding of local jail. In recent years, the induction of Pretrial services has seem to reduce the overcrowding problem. Or has it? Both local Bail bondsman and the County commission may be working together to kill this program. Recent talk about what would be more cost effective. The cost of the program as compared to the $1,000 a day fine that would be assessed as a result of willfully terminating the federal court order program. Broward County Commissioner Ilene Lieberman said, “When I look at what we would pay if the jail were overcapacity versus what we’re paying for the program, we’re probably better off letting the jail be overcapacity, and we’ll save more money that way,”. By ending the pretrial intervention program would most likely increase the overcrowding and force Broward County to build new jail facilities.
The local bail bond association in Broward county have hired Ron Book to lobby for the termination of the pretrial release program. Book’s proposal would preclude non-indigent inmates from participating in the program. Non-indigent inmates make up about 40 percent of the program. A second version has been hammered out that singles out only non-indigent inmates who have committed dangerous crimes or have a history of missing court dates. Read full story
I’ll tell you what good pretrial release does for the community, nothing. Leaving the responsibility of a defendants appearance in court to private bail bond business ultimately reduces the failure to appear rate not to mention saving the taxpayers millions of dollars. the failure to appear rate dramatically increases with the implementation of these pretrial services. However going through a bail bond agency holds the contacted parties financially responsible to that defendants appearance, ultimately reducing the number of “no shows” to court. Not only does pretrial services increase the FTA (failure to appear), and increase tax payer money, but also puts local bonding agencies out of business. Tell us what you think?
