Skip to main content

Why fixing the US bail system is tricky : Cash bail is great…if you can pay for it.




#CashBail #Jail #Defendants #Court  #Courtroom

Lawmakers, activists, and reformers want to end cash bail, the practice of requiring a defendant to pay money to be released from jail before trial.




Mounting evidence has shown that cash bail unfairly affects low-income minorities who don’t have the money to pay for release before their trial. As a result, defendants languish in jail while waiting for court dates.



While in jail, many of them lose their jobs, housing, and parental rights, all of which can weaken their community network, erode domestic relationships and cost the government money to keep them in jail.

Defenders of cash bail claim it is an effective mechanism for keeping violent criminals in jail. Despite their efforts to protect the status quo, several states have pursued bail reform. These states model their new systems on a pretrial risk assessment system. Risk assessments use algorithms to analyze data about a defendant and make recommendations for their pretrial release.

The District of Columbia has used risk assessments since the early 1990s with success. But many reform activists are concerned that when cash bail is replaced with risk assessments, courts are using another unjust — and potentially more biased — pretrial release mechanism.

By Vox , Jan 2, 2019

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"Love is a combination of six ingredients: care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust". Bell Hooks

#AfricanAmerican #BellHooks #Love #Respect  #WhereWeStand  #ClassMatters  "Love is a combination of six ingredients: care, commitment, knowledge, responsibility, respect and trust". Bell Hooks A writer, teacher and cultural critic, bell hooks is best known for her work examining systems of domination, especially racism and patriarchy, and how they may be overcome. She has published more than twenty books, including  Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black; Killing Rage: Ending Racism , and  Where We Stand: Class Matters . hooks says that uncovering and naming the forms of oppression in our society is an extension of her lifelong curiosity about love and her desire to see love manifested. “Perhaps the most common false assumption about love is that it means we will not be challenged or changed,” she once wrote in the Buddhist magazine   Shambhala Sun . “When I write provocative social and cultural criticism that causes readers to stretch the...

Bell Hooks - To Truly Love

 #BellHooks #Love #Respect #trust  #Communication  #Triple5LightTherapy #BlackTherapist #Therapy

The Unique Benefits of Teletherapy.

#BlackTherapist #Teletherapy #Triple5LightTherapy.com #AfricanAmerican #Therapist  b y   Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Teletherapy is seen as an inferior alternative to in-person therapy. But while it has some drawbacks, online therapy has plenty of pluses, too. First the drawbacks: Some clients miss their therapist’s office, which they associate with safety and healing, said  Jodi Aman , LCSW, a psychotherapist in Rochester, N.Y. Technical difficulties—from poor internet connections to visibility issues–can interrupt sessions. Finding a private, quiet space at home can be challenging. Still, many people prefer teletherapy. As psychologist  Regine Galanti , Ph.D, pointed out, the biggest myth about teletherapy is that it’s “a plan B approach.” Many of Galanti’s clients have been doing online sessions for years. Her teen clients, in particular, like attending therapy in their own space. Teletherapy is also convenient. “[I]t removes time barriers for people to ...

Coping With Moods: The Challenge of the Turbulent Mind

#Mood #Impulses #selfregulate #selfsoothe  #Triple5LightTherapy #BlackMaleTherapist #Psychotherapy The power of moods and impulses can be overwhelming, but we can learn to self-regulate and self-soothe through awareness practices like meditation and mindfulness. By developing a healthy dialogue with our emotional nature, we can access deeper parts of ourselves and become more resilient in the face of stress and pressure. Rather than being swept away by our ever-shifting moods, we can learn to pause and reflect before acting. by Gillian McCann, Ph.D., and Gitte Bechsgaard, RP