Tuesday, January 29, 2008

 

Bail bondsmen turn out to be kinda an American thing...


Yesterday in criminal practice class, I learned a lot (more on that later). One thing that became apparent is that I am somewhat rare in that I enjoy visiting people in jail and prison; as a prosecutor, for example, I had no problem with taking proffers of information from co-operating defendants at a prison, and these days I am more than willing to visit defendants who are incarcerated.

Part of the incarceration subculture I have always found fascinating is the business of bail bondsmen. There is often a little fleet of them near a jail, their pick-ups parked in a clump outside the entrance. Until today, though, I did not realize that they are pretty much unique to the U.S. justice system. This article in the New York Times details the way in which we go it alone in allowing private businessmen to secure the appearance of defendants in court.

Looking at it objectively, it is an odd system. There can be little doubt that it favors those defendants with access to cash, which in reality means either those who are not poor or who have some ill-gotten gains lying around. It also is probably unnecessary, even in the U.S., given that the federal criminal justice system functions just fine despite relying largely on personal bonds rather than bail and bail bondsmen.

Comments:
Did you know that there are NO bail places in the state of OR? Its not allowed. If you need to post bail you have to just cough it up or sit in jail.


Michigan I think has Bail bonds... and also BILL Bonds.
 
I'm really curious about Kate Santana's crime. She's hot.
 
Prof. Osler - if you haven't already seen it, I thought you might get a kick out of this:

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/osjcl/blog/Articles_1/kopf-final-12-28-07.pdf
 
I would like going to jail more if I got something good out of it. As a defense atty, though, I rarely do and it eats into time that I use for something else.

Re: bail bonds, some clients are better off in jail as opposed to reoffending or returning to an even more dangerous environment. Those bondsmen can be very useful, though, in tracking down hard to find clients.
 
I love how Mr. Spath gives that classic "private sector is always better than public" line when he claims that his service is "free," and tugs at the heartstrings when he argues that public monies should go to the homeless, the elderly, etc.

Yes, Mr. Spath, public monies should go to those worthy services...they also should not go to pay the unbelievably high daily rates for those individuals who can't afford your bail "premiums" and end up on the public dole effectively anyway in jail or in prison, awaiting trial. Wonder how much collectively the public pays for the fact that those individuals cannot afford your services? I would guess a substantial amount of money.

Your services really aren't so free, are they?
 
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