On the most recent episode of his always excellent show Last Week Tonight, he focuses on the abuses of the cash bail system where people can be held in jail for a long time before trial simply because they do not have the money to post bail. This hurts poor people the most. One of the worst abuses is to use the system to coerce people who have been held in jail for a long time before trial to confess to crimes they did not commit with the promise that the time they have already spent in prison will be sufficient punishment.
I think that people should be released on their personal recognizance unless they are a risk to society or have the means to flee. Most poor people who commit petty offenses can easily be caught if they do not show up for their trial. Bail in such cases is punitive.
“Bail in such cases is punitive.”
Unfortunately, I think that’s the point.
“unless they are a risk to society”.
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The apparent inability to recognize that lots of people fall into this category is the reason this is a popular election issue.
It often seems to me that the people who put society at the most risk are the same people who can afford any level of bail.
We can only get wholesale carceral reform by locking up many more politicians. Do your job, Merrick Garland!
#2 tx
I assume you mean people like Trump, Bannon, and Stone -- people who whip up mobs against the government? As opposed to say, personal use of drugs without infliction harm on another. Right?
txpiper,
I thought the popular election issue among the MAGATS and the gobby GOPers this election is the election -- you know, attempting to steal it by claiming it was stolen (by the actual voters) just like your orange messiah still does.
But yes, who is a danger to society? Someone arrested for a small amount of drugs or someone who places more value in their guns than they do a safer gun-free society? Someone in jail for minor traffic offenses or ,as Holms says above, those who foment violent mobs with blatant lies?
And of course, that someone, who cannot afford to post bail, is stuck in jail AT YOUR EXPENSE. So hooray for your USAian version of socialism! Throw them in jail, house them, feed them, clothe them, and get them making license plates at a dime a dozen.
Oh wait, isn’t that capitalism?
Or is it in fact xian charity to imprison them and rob them of dignity and hope rather than cast them down to hell in a hail of stones?
“I thought the popular election issue….”
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For the people who pay the bills, it will be about policy failures. But whatever the outcome, it is only temporary. I think we will discover the hard way that too many parasites eventually kill the host.
=
“who is a danger to society?”
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I’m pretty sure that they have beasts like this guy in mind, not the people who frighten Holms.
For the people who pay the bills…
That’s EVERYONE, dimwit. Who the AF do you think you’re talking about?
Gee txpiper, perhaps you should actually read the article you linked beyond the sensationalist headline.
While the report is blaming the “no cash bail’ policy for the tragic and preventable death of Keaira Bennefield, it also says (emphasis mine)…
Why don’t you, along with the mischievous reporter of the story, ask why, given the nature of his crimes, he was charged with such low level misdemeanours that the no cash bail regimen would force the judge to release him without bail?
“why, given the nature of his crimes…”
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Everybody knows why the bail reform law was enacted.
And why is that? Don’t be coy, say what you mean.
txpiper.
From your linked article…
My question to you….
I made the salient part bold for ya, seeing as you completely missed it the first time.
@txpiper: If you want to blame a Democrat for one murder committed by someone who was released by a prosecutor’s decisions (NOT by the actual Democrat, mind you), then maybe we should talk about all the decent people (including cops) who were murdered by a REPUBLICAN-inspired mob on 1/6/2021.
“maybe we should talk about all the decent people (including cops) who were murdered by a REPUBLICAN-inspired mob”
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Okay. What were their names?
Someone needs to point out to Professor Myers that he misrepresented the facts in his JD Vance & Tucker Carlson post. Vance was apparently referring to Ryan’s response to this inquiry in 2019 ACLU Presidential Candidate Questionnaire:
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14.As President will you use your executive authority to ensure that transgender and non-binary people who rely on the state for medical care — including those in prison and immigration detention — will have access to comprehensive treatment associated with gender transition, including all necessary surgical care? If yes, how will you do so?
Yes X No ⬜ Explanation (no more than 500 words): ___________
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Congressman Ryan did not elaborate on his response.
@15
It’s Vance who is misrepresenting that question.
@txpiper: Please stop embarrassing yourself with your lazy-assed Gish-gallop. You suck at it, and you’re not fooling anyone.
#14 tx
Ashli Babbitt comes to mind. The bullet came from the gun of a defender of the place she was trying to breach, at the behest of the deranged Trump and his complicit media lackeys.
“Ashli Babbitt comes to mind.”
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She doesn’t qualify. What you’re looking for is “all the decent people (including cops) who were murdered by a REPUBLICAN-inspired mob”. Babbitt was a protestor, so she couldn’t possibly have been a decent person. And she was not killed by the mob. She was shot by a hero with a 60 IQ and a gun who declared that “I believe I showed the utmost courage on January 6th”.
@txpiper: Fuck you, moron, Ashli Babbit wasn’t perfect, but we all know she was a victim of the mob action Trump inspired and roped her into joining.
Also, does the name Brian Sicknick ring any bells? Here’s two hints: he was a cop, but NOT one of the cops who’d chosen to join Trump’s anti-democratic mob.
The Washington medical examiner ruled that Sicknick died of multiple strokes that occurred hours after his confrontation with the mob.
Yes she does, every death and injury that arose due to the violent clash between the mob and police was a death caused by them being whipped up into a frenzy. No mob, no death of Babbitt. And, being a protester does not disqualify her from being decent; being part of a violent attempted overthrow of power does.
Wilful ignorance is something at which txpiper excels.
Right-wing authoritarian types love their fearmongering and dogwhistling, and so it goes.
This recent article refers to that mindset: The reason Republican attacks on crime are so potent.
@txpiper: And what caused those strokes? Injuries inflicted by the mob. Or can you show some other reason why a perfectly healthy young man would suddenly suffer MULTIPLE strokes after having a polite chat with peaceful demonstrators?