Some additional stats and info about bail. Bail exists ostensibly for two reasons: to help ensure people show up for their day in court, and to protect the public from dangerous people until they can be convicted and sentenced. There are many problems with this, but here are the two biggest problems with those reasons. One, there is no data to support the idea that bail makes it more likely for defendants to appear in court. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. Itâs one of those things that feels like it makes logical sense, but the data just doesnât support it. Two, pretrial detention of defendants who may be a danger to society, by definition, presumes they are guilty. This violates what is supposed to be the core tenet of our criminal justice system, that all those charged with crimes are presumed innocent and the burden is on the state to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. I understand that it doesnât feel good to think about someone who might be a violent and desperate person free to walk the streets while awaiting their trial for murder, but keeping innocent, wrongfully accused people in jail for months to years before they even get their day in court does more harm.
On any given day, 400,000 to 500,000 people are in pretrial detention in the United States. Thatâs about a quarter of all people incarcerated in the US right now. We have, by far, more people incarcerated of any country in the world, AND 1 IN 4 OF THOSE PEOPLE HAVE NOT YET BEEN CONVICTED OF A CRIME. And, of course, a disproportionate number of those people are people of color, and almost all of them are poor. This is a national embarrassment that very clearly violates the 8th Amendment to our Constitution.