Invisible injustice
Nov. 27th, 2022 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
While reading articles about bail reform and wrongful conviction, it struck me that there's *major* injustice connected with these things.
And correcting said injustice would pretty much *force* jurisdictions to do bail reform *and* set things up for speedier trials.
What's the injustice? Consider this. While you are being held because you can't make bail, you are likely to lose your job, lose your dwelling, and lose your personal property.
In many cases this far exceeds the penalties that could be imposed if you are found guilty. And if you are *innocent*...
Those sorts of situations are why so many people will take bad plea bargains just to get out of jail and stop hemoraging resources.
Imagine the situation if the courts had to secure your property and guarantee a job (of equal or greater pay) as well as an equivalent dwelling to the one you'd had.
That'd made holding folks just because they can't afford bail a *very* spendy proposition. It'd also make holding them for long times before their trial expensive as heck.
And similar arguments can be made regarding people who are *convicted* of crimes. Is losing all those things a *reasonable* punishment? Or is it instead, "cruel and unusual". Yeah, it 's *common*, but that doesn't make it right.
Hopefully, some day someone with deep pockets and a strong sense of justice will pay for the lawsuits it'll take to change this.
And correcting said injustice would pretty much *force* jurisdictions to do bail reform *and* set things up for speedier trials.
What's the injustice? Consider this. While you are being held because you can't make bail, you are likely to lose your job, lose your dwelling, and lose your personal property.
In many cases this far exceeds the penalties that could be imposed if you are found guilty. And if you are *innocent*...
Those sorts of situations are why so many people will take bad plea bargains just to get out of jail and stop hemoraging resources.
Imagine the situation if the courts had to secure your property and guarantee a job (of equal or greater pay) as well as an equivalent dwelling to the one you'd had.
That'd made holding folks just because they can't afford bail a *very* spendy proposition. It'd also make holding them for long times before their trial expensive as heck.
And similar arguments can be made regarding people who are *convicted* of crimes. Is losing all those things a *reasonable* punishment? Or is it instead, "cruel and unusual". Yeah, it 's *common*, but that doesn't make it right.
Hopefully, some day someone with deep pockets and a strong sense of justice will pay for the lawsuits it'll take to change this.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-27 07:38 pm (UTC)Yeah. In many places in the US the bail requirements are effectively a poor tax.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-04 12:44 am (UTC)