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Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countries, especially the United States, bail usually implies a bail bond, a deposit of money or some form of property to the court by the suspect in return for the release from pre-trial detention. If the suspect does not return to court, the bail is forfeited and the suspect may be charged with the crime of failure to appear. If the suspect returns to make all their required appearances, bail is returned after the trial is concluded.
In justice and law, house arrest is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if allowed at all. House arrest is an alternative to being in a prison while awaiting trial or after sentencing.
Incarceration in the United States is one of the primary means of punishment for crime in the United States. In 2021, over five million people were under supervision by the criminal justice system, with nearly two million people incarcerated in state or federal prisons and local jails. The United States has the largest known prison population in the world. It has 5% of the world’s population while having 20% of the world’s incarcerated persons. China, with four times more inhabitants, has fewer persons in prison. Prison populations grew dramatically beginning in the 1970s, but began a decline around 2009, dropping 25% by year-end 2021.
The Criminal Court of the City of New York is a court of the State Unified Court System in New York City that handles misdemeanors and lesser offenses, and also conducts arraignments and preliminary hearings in felony cases.
The Vera Institute of Justice is an independent nonprofit national research and policy organization in the United States, and a leader in criminal justice research. It was founded in 1961 in New York City. Its stated goal is "to tackle the most pressing injustices of our day: from the causes and consequences of mass incarceration, racial disparities, and the loss of public trust in law enforcement, to the unmet needs of the vulnerable, the marginalized, and those harmed by crime and violence."
The penal system in China is composed of an administrative detention system and a judicial incarceration system. As of 2020, it is estimated that 1.7 million people had been incarcerated in China, which is the second-highest prison population after the United States. China also retains the use of the death penalty with the approval of the Supreme People's Court, and there is a system of death penalty with reprieve in which the sentence is suspended unless the convict commits another major crime within two years while they are detained.
Pre-trial detention, also known as jail, preventive detention, provisional detention, or remand, is the process of detaining a person until their trial after they have been arrested and charged with an offence. A person who is on remand is held in a prison or detention centre or held under house arrest. Varying terminology is used, but "remand" is generally used in common law jurisdictions and "preventive detention" elsewhere. However, in the United States, "remand" is rare except in official documents and "jail" is instead the main terminology. Detention before charge is commonly referred to as custody and continued detention after conviction is referred to as imprisonment.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people face difficulties in prison such as increased vulnerability to sexual assault, other kinds of violence, and trouble accessing necessary medical care. While much of the available data on LGBTQ inmates comes from the United States, Amnesty International maintains records of known incidents internationally in which LGBTQ prisoners and those perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender have suffered torture, ill-treatment and violence at the hands of fellow inmates as well as prison officials.
The United States incarcerates more of its youth than any other country in the world,, through the juvenile courts and the adult criminal justice system, which reflects the larger trends in incarceration practices in the United States. In 2010, approximately 70,800 juveniles were incarcerated in youth detention facilities alone. As of 2006, approximately 500,000 youth were brought to detention centers in a given year. This data does not reflect juveniles tried as adults. As of 2013, around 40% were incarcerated in privatized, for-profit facilities.
Bail in the United States refers to the practice of releasing suspects from custody before their hearing, on payment of bail, which is money or pledge of property to the court which may be refunded if suspects return to court for their trial. Bail practices in the United States vary from state to state.
Criminal justice reform seeks to address structural issues in criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Reforms can take place at any point where the criminal justice system intervenes in citizens’ lives, including lawmaking, policing, sentencing and incarceration. Criminal justice reform can also address the collateral consequences of conviction, including disenfranchisement or lack of access to housing or employment, that may restrict the rights of individuals with criminal records.
Criminal justice reform seeks to address structural issues in criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Criminal justice reform can take place at any point where the criminal justice system intervenes in citizens’ lives, including lawmaking, policing, and sentencing.
In re Kenneth Humphrey was a case decided by the California Supreme Court concerning whether it is a violation of due process and equal protection to imprison defendants prior to trial solely because they cannot afford to pay bail.
Decarceration in the United States involves government policies and community campaigns aimed at reducing the number of people held in custody or custodial supervision. Decarceration, the opposite of incarceration, also entails reducing the rate of imprisonment at the federal, state and municipal level. As of 2019, the US was home to 5% of the global population but 25% of its prisoners. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. possessed the world's highest incarceration rate: 655 inmates for every 100,000 people, enough inmates to equal the populations of Philadelphia or Houston. The COVID-19 pandemic has reinvigorated the discussion surrounding decarceration as the spread of the virus poses a threat to the health of those incarcerated in prisons and detention centers where the ability to properly socially distance is limited. As a result of the push for decarceration in the wake of the pandemic, as of 2022, the incarceration rate in the United States declined to 505 per 100,000, resulting in the United States no longer having the highest incarceration rate in the world, but still remaining in the top five.
Electronic monitoring or electronic incarceration (e-carceration) is state use of digital technology to monitor, track and constrain an individual's movements outside of a prison, jail or detention center. Common examples of electronic monitoring of individuals under pre-trial or immigrant detention, house arrest, on probation or parole include: GPS wrist and ankle monitors, cellphones with biometric security systems, ignition interlock devices and automated probation check-in centers or kiosks.
The Minnesota Freedom Fund is a non-profit organization that operates a bail fund. It was founded in 2016 and is based in the U.S. city of Minneapolis. The organization pays bail for people who have been arrested and are awaiting trial. Initially a small organization with a $100,000 in financial assets by 2017, the organization raised $40 million in 2020, following the murder of George Floyd. By May 2021, the organization had spent $19 million largely on posting bail for local cases. Money returns to the organization when a person appears in court and it can be reallocated to other bail posts. The organization does not make bail determinations based on the types of crimes allegedly committed and the posting of bond is made without details of a particular case. Leaders of the organization have expressed support for the abolition of all bail fees.
The Bail Project is a 501 (c)(3) non profit organization aiming to pay bail for people who are not financially capable of doing so themselves. The Bail Project also provides pretrial services. The Bail Project was founded in 2017 by Robin Steinberg. In January 2018, the organization launched its first site as a national operation. As of 2020, it has 22 locations across the United States and has helped pay bail for over 12,000 people.
The Chicago Community Bond Fund is a non-profit bail fund that through donations from the public posts bail bonds for people who could otherwise not afford it. Starting from an informal effort to bail out several people who were arrested at a vigil for a Black man who had been killed by the Chicago Police, the fund saw a considerable increase in donations following the murder of George Floyd and the protests and arrests in Chicago that followed. Taking a crime-agnostic view on providing bail, arguing that it is judges who determine if a person is a threat to the general public by offering cash bail and that the presumption of innocence applies to all, the fund has posted the bonds of hundreds of people accused of crimes, including a number charged with violent crimes.
Scott Hechinger is an American civil rights attorney, former public defender and the founder and executive director of Zealous, a nonprofit organization that trains public defenders and activists to use media, technology, the arts, and storytelling to shape criminal justice policy. Hechinger teaches at Columbia Law School as an adjunct professor.
References
- ↑ "National Bail Fund Network". Community Justice Exchange. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
- ↑ Harvard Law School Criminal Justice Policy Program (October 2016). Moving beyond money: a primer on bail reform (PDF) (Report).
{{cite report}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ↑ Subramanian, Ram (February 2015). Incarceration's front door: the misuse of jails in America (PDF) (Report).
- ↑ Initiative, Prison Policy; Wagner, Wendy Sawyer and Peter. "Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2020". www.prisonpolicy.org. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
{{cite web}}:|first1=has generic name (help) - ↑ Phillips, Sarah (n.d.). National survey of community bail funds: report to the community (PDF) (Report). Smart Decarceration Initiative, Washington University in St. Louis.
- ↑ "How it Works". The Massachusetts Bail Fund. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
- ↑ Simonson, J. (2017). Bail nullification. Michigan Law Review, 115(5), p.599
- 1 2 Steinberg, Robin (2018). "Freedom should be free: a brief history of bail funds in the United States". UCLA Criminal Justice Law Review. 2: 79–95.
- ↑ "Nation's Largest Bail Fund Plans To Stop Bailing People Out Of Jail". The Appeal. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
- ↑ Pinto, Nick (2020-04-06). "Bailing Out". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583 . Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ↑ "About Us". Brooklyn Community Bail Fund. Archived from the original on 2020-06-10. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ↑ Newport, Melanie (2020-06-17). "Bail funds are having a moment in 2020". The Washington Post.