🚀 go-pugleaf

Dave Briggman (paradigm@mercury.interpath.net) wrote:

: Maybe there needs to be codified standards that are unilaterally 
: applied such that a family's wealth or standing in a community is 
: not applied to a determination as to whether bail should be granted 
: or in what amount or bail should be set at.

: It APPEARS to me the relatively low ($175,000 = either putting one's 
: house up or saying bye-bye to about $26,000 when given to a
: bailbondman) bail AND the house arrest would not have been afforded a 
: black man who was charged with armed kidnapping/rape/robbery. It 
: also APPEARS that this solution regardless of race, etc. is not the 
: solution that is best for the community. That's my point.


: Dave


Well, a 15 year old charged with 3 counts of robbery with a dangerous
weapon, two counts of first-degree kidnapping (what, by the way, determines
the degree of a kidnapping), one count of first-degree rape, and one count 
of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill got bail set at
$100,000.  He has a record including armed robbery, possesion of a stolen
vehicle, and possesion of a weapon of mass destruction.  His alleged crime was 
against two Duke students, and he is an African American.  After his case 
came up for trial, his bond was changed to $500,000 (the prosecution
requested $1 million)...

I threw the part about the victims in because even people from the Gothic 
Wonderland are the victims of crime.  Now, in this particular case, I would 
say that the person /should/ have been held without bond due to the 
extremely violent nature of the crime and his previous record.  That opinion 
came well before any mention of race.

I agree with the first paragraph.  In cases such as these (and, really, all 
cases) the relative wealth of the family should not enter into how justice
is done.  Although it may have to...  If a bail is set at $1 million, the 
judicial intent is most likely to hold the person and NOT to make the 
bondsfolk rich.  Some accused may however be able to put up that much 
money, thereby making the bond economically unfair.  If a rich guy and 
a poor guy go in on a crime and one can afford the bail and one cannot, 
where is the justice in that?  There are just too many questions, so I 
suppose we should not be surprised when something like the $8000 bond 
for a murder case comes out.  Angry, confused maybe, but not surprised.

Mike