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Wilson 1 Sarah Wilson Dr. Stephen Bujno PHIL202G-MID03 SM23 July 30, 2023 Bail Reform What is Justice? Plato’s variation on the definition of justice is “giving another their due. But it is not simply fairness, nor retribution” (Ethics of Care and Wellness; Stephen Bujno page 125). The United States Justice System has numerous issues that need to be addressed. One of the most important current justice issues is the United States’ cash bail system. Bail is a defendant’s legal promise to come to their court date by putting up money or property as collateral. If the defendant appears on their court date, their bail is returned. If the defendant does not show up on their court date their bail is kept by the courts. There are thirteen different types of bail, but the most common is called the surety bail; where the defendant works with a bail bondsman and acquires a loan for a certain amount. This and other types of Cash Bail are creating a devastating imbalance in our Justice system. These types of bail let those with financial means pay for their freedom, while those who do not have any type of cash or liquid asset are forced to stay incarcerated until their trial. This current policy places people with low income at a great disadvantage. In many cases, those who are living without a lot of financial stability having a cash-only bail can end up leading to their loss of employment, housing, custody of their children, and means of transportation. These consequences last for years and devastate the lives and families and communities of these people incarcerated, waiting for their

Wilson 2 trials. Meanwhile, people arrested for the same crime, but with the means to pay the bail do not have this life experience, regardless of how serious of a crime they committed. This difference has created a large socioeconomic injustice. Cash-only bail goes against principles of fairness and equality that should guide the US justice system. We need bail reform to help eliminate the inequalities in our current system. Bail reform will create a more just and fair way to manage people who are incarcerated and waiting for trial. In 2019 the US had the highest number of people incarcerated in the world at a staggering number of 1.77 million people, and 23% of this includes people incarcerated waiting for trial (Jacobson and Walmsley, World Prison Brief). This means that 407,000 are incarcerated, waiting for their trial, but not yet convicted (Wagner). These people are innocent until proven guilty, but sadly, all of them are treated as if they are guilty if they cannot afford bail. Most cannot afford the bail, and judges are routinely setting bail higher than the people can afford (Ganeva and Tana Ganeva is a reporter and editor covering criminal justice The fight to end cash bail (SSIR)). An annual 5-year study period from 2017-2021 found that prosecutors dismissed 28% of filed cases nationwide (Home - Prosecutorial Performance Indicators). The average time to disposition is 256 days for a felony case and 193 days for a misdemeanor (Timely justice in criminal cases: What the data tells US - NCSC). This means that approximately 28% of people who will have their cases dismissed have now been incarcerated for all this time. It is awful! Current policy allows those with the means to pay to get back on the street and forces those who are poor to remain incarcerated.

Wilson 3 A Philadelphia study showed that half of the men incarcerated and waiting for trial were their family’s primary source of income. Shockingly, the most recent national study of jail populations was a 2002 Survey of Inmates in Local Jails. In this study 53 percent of men and 66 percent of women who were incarcerated for an inability to pay bail were parents of minor children (Gordon Director et al. 5 ways cash bail systems undermine community safety). The instability that having an incarcerated parent causes the child is extremely worrisome. Experts believe that children of incarcerated parents are more likely to become incarcerated themselves in the future. These children are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, suicide ideation, and PTSD (Gordon Director et al. 5 ways cash bail systems undermine community safety). It is paramount that we help protect our nation's parents and children, and we can help do this by bail reform. Improve the dignity of defendants with lower financial means and allow them to continue working without the disruption of their life prior to trial. Accused vs community: Professor Wade Maki of UNC Greensboro wrote, “One of the features of utilitarian theories of punishment is that it focuses on the community, not the individual. If we focus on the good of the community to justify our actions, what protections are there for the individual? Do we run the risk of sacrificing the individual's good in favor of the majority? “(Wade Maki, M.A., “Vice, Crime, and American Law,” 2005). Bail reform is a giant leap towards helping to end our overcrowded prison system. The current justice system we have is leading to horrible and unnecessarily high incarceration rates, and it is important to explore every opportunity to help end prison overcrowding and its horrible effects on our citizens and communities. Currently, it seems as though the American Justice

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