Discuss the history of bail reform as well as criticisms of the current bail system

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Critics believe that the bail system is discriminatory because defendants who are financially well off can make bail, whereas indigent defendants unable to pay are forced to languish in the county jail or pretrial detention. Other criticisms include—costly, because the government must pay for those offenders who can't afford to bail themselves out; unfair, because a higher proportion of detainees receive longer sentences than people released on bail; and dehumanizing, because innocents who can't afford bails suffer in deteriorated jails. The first bail reform program was called the Manhattan Bail Project that began in 1961 in the New York criminal courts. The project found that if the court had sufficient information about the defendant, it could make a reasonably good judgment about whether the accused would return to court. When release decisions were based on information such as the nature of the offense, family ties, and employment record, most defendants who were released on their own recognizance (ROR) returned to court. The success of ROR programs in the early 1960s resulted in bail reforms that culminated with the enactment of the federal Bail Reform Act of 1966, the first change in bail laws since 1789 . Bail reform is considered one of the most successful programs in the recent history of the criminal justice system.