Rethinking Fairness to Rich and Poor in the Criminal Justice Center
Recently an editorial was posted in the Las Cruces Sun-News about the bail system in New Mexico. State Senator Peter Wirth has announced that he will introduce an amendment to change how bail is set in the State. The amendment would allow for judges to use their discretion in holding a person without bail where there is “clear and convincing evidence” that the defendant may be a flight risk or dangerous to the community. The amendment would also allegedly ensure that a person is not held in jail because he or she is unable to post bail due to financial reasons. Unfortunately, how this is supposed to happen has not been established.
The editorial suggests that the indigent are discriminated against purely by the bail system including having a commercial bondsman post bail for a defendant. What the author fails to realize is that commercial bail actually helps indigent defendants who would otherwise be unable to afford bail. A licensed bond agent charges a portion of the total bail to a person. The bondsman also takes on the responsibility of ensuring the person’s appearance at future court dates, relieving the burden to taxpayers.
A wealthy defendant generally has the means through cash or property to post bail without the assistance of a bondsman. A person of limited means relies on the of a services bail bondsman to be released from jail. We must stop blaming the commercial bail industry. It is a service that helps those that otherwise would be unable to post bail. It saves taxpayers significant amounts of money by taking on the risk of the defendant not appearing in court as opposed to relying on the court or other government agencies to enforce appearance.
The constitutional amendment suggested by Senator Wirth is greatly lacking in substance. There is no information given on how the true issues undermining the criminal justice system are addressed. The bail system has a proven track record. The commercial bail system has removed corruption deeply routed in government-run bail such as the nightmare created in Philadelphia, which currently has a fugitive crisis. Undoubtedly, there are injustices in the criminal justice center but commercial bail isn’t the problem.