And what if anything posted has anything to do with that? It hasn't gotten more difficult to get out while awaiting trial. Nowhere have I seen anything posted about any lessening of rights. Bondsman and “bounty hunters” have been increasingly regulated not the opposite which belies the point that Run seems to think was being made. No indication that privatizing prisons in any way contributes to the number of people incarcerated. It just sounds like it's something that some only want the Govt and it's employees to profit from. Sounds like a knee jerk reaction to me, I guess it's just a different knee.

The Bondsman is a simple and useful part of the system. Most people cannot afford to post a big enough bond to satisfy the court unless they financially hurt themselves. This enables them to do so and for the risk of standing surety a bondsman charges a fee. So? I still don't see the problem with it and, innuendo aside, I haven't heard anything to point out any specific issue. Regulating can protect defendants because it would happen anyway just unofficial and unregulated.

And Run for the record my main view is I hate when people use crap examples and distort reality to try and prove a point. The remainder was in response to others posts so I don't consider them “my” issues.

Your pushing your o/wn issues.

The topic here is something you skate around without ever addressing at all: the destruction of the 'innocent until proven guilty' basis of our judicial/criminal system
When profits become part of justice, the bailbondsmen, just like private prison enterprises, have a financial interest in promoting whatever it is in law that keeps their businesses going. It's evident how moneyed interests of all types can sway governmental decisions, (some of them the very ones you object to),. The result is that we are left with no principled sense of justice at all, only one of expediency and knee-jerk reactions.
That leads to policies that ocmpound the problem instead of seeking to reduce it.

If you want to go beyond that, then every factor would have to be discussed in its own right. There is no big umbrella fix available that can answer all crime related issues.

A first step would be to separate the merely accused from the convicted in discussions., which was the focus here.

A necessary second step would be to separate knee-jerk reactions (lock 'em up and throw away the keys) from methods that reduce crime rates and improve the general health of society. in the long term.

There are some very interesting pilot programs with a long term view that show promise. Even at the early trial stage, some prove to be much more effective in reducintg recidivism than what is generally the practice. and experience. They are also more cost efficient.

I don,t think we can dissuss drugs, gun laws, or specific other crimes in a detailed way within the scope of this post. Even though I agree that it's an interesitng otpic, (I would say it's urgent), it's just too broad to go beyond general principles. – at least it is for me.

Every state has a mechanism for returning voting rights. Lobby all you want I don't think there is much chance people are going to care that people in prison can't vote. I also think that it's reasonable to wait until the full sentence has been completed and that people show they want to be a part of the process. Georgia automatically restores voting rights after completion of sentence. And people think this is a bad thing? It's an absurd overdramatized issue. The cry of racism is always brought up. Of course no one points out that these types of laws existed before universal suffrage when blacks could not vote and have roots in English common law and even go back to roman times. We take away the rights of people in jail, but they should retain the right to vote and have a say in my life? My feeling it's very much a State issue. Those that live elsewhere who want to change things have my blessing, but I would not support a change in my State.

It is an interesting issue. Why is our incarceration rate so high? Lots of theories but that's all they are. We do have effective law enforcement and a low crime rate, many point to that saying that good enforcement puts and keeps criminals in prison thus giving us the low crime rate. Others say it's the war on drugs, half the people in prison are there for drug related offences, and that doesn't include those that committed offences to buy drugs are who were under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

While felony disenfranchisement laws should be of concern in any democracy, the scale of their impact in the United States is unparalleled: an estimated 3.9 million U.S. citizens are disenfranchised, including over one million who have fully completed their sentences. That so many people are disenfranchised is an unintended consequence of harsh criminal justice policies that have increased the number of people sent to prison and the length of their sentences, despite a falling crime rate.

Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia prohibit citizens from voting while incarcerated for a felony; Maine and Vermont are the only exceptions to the rule. Thirty-six states continue to prohibit citizens with felony convictions to vote while on parole. Thirty-one states exclude probationers as well. Only three states — Virginia, Kentucky, and Florida — permanently bar felons from voting, even years after they have completed their sentences and reintegrated themselves into their communities. Nine states either permanently disenfranchise those convicted of certain offenses or require ex-felons to wait a set number of years before re-registering to vote.[41]

As a point of comparison, no other democracy in the world takes away the right to vote for citizens who have completed their sentences. Many other countries, including Denmark, Norway, Israel, France and Zimbabwe, also allow those still in prison to cast a vote.[42]

Georgia' felon-disenfranchisement law was responsible for a two-thirds gap in voter registration between black males and other ethnic and gender groups. One-third of the black men in Georgia who had lost their voting rights because of a felony had been convicted of a drug crime.

I had not thought about the bail bond industry as a part of what is being called the prison/industrial complex, but it should be a national concern. We have a major industry now buying votes in Congress to continually increase the percentage of our population we imprison, even though it is already higher by far than any other modern industrialized nation.

It's impossible to tell what your point is on the topic, because you did not address it.

At issue is the fact that the 'innocent until proven guilty' principle is being replaced by profit making opportunities for bondsmen.

Posting one's own bail is an option open only to the well-to-do, just like hiring good legal counsel is also open only to the well-to-do.

The .equal. part of justice is systematically ttrampled throughout the justice system, from the moment someone comes under suspicion

The inaccuracy of this statement as well as the slant put on the article makes it hard to give any credence the thoughts expressed. While there is the ability to do bail recovery in the Federal System there is nothing preventing, and indeed in most cases, State laws apply to such activities. There are no cross country trips, when you catch someone it's straight to jail or you go to jail for kidnapping. Also ignored is the fact that you can post bond with the court and bypass the bondsman at any time. You would then get all your money back. The bondsman is allowed to charge a fee for a service but no is forced to use that service.
The statement about felons voting, How many states don't allow felons to vote? None really. Every state has a method to recover your voting rights. Some it's automatic and some you have to apply, but in most once you are completely done with everything including fines and parole then at most there may be a set time and you can recover your voting rights. Most States, 85%, it's remarkably easy so this whine is unnecessary and dishonest. Delaware, Kentucky, maybe Wyoming are tough states if your a felon looking to vote. The rest not real bad and usually automatic. Yes there are places you can't live if you are a child molester, but if you pass a bad check it's really not a big issue. Will you have trouble finding a job? Maybe but doesn't someone who is trying to hire a person deserve to know a persons past? I can ask about where someone went to school but not if he ever committed an armed robbery? Right. 70 percent percent of all released prisoners will be rearrested within three years. Of state parolees, only 42 percent completed their parole terms without re offending, a rate that has remained constant for a decade — down from 70 percent in 1985. I'm also tired of hearing about drugs being a victimless crime. Ignoring direct convictions for drugs, 33 percent of state inmates reported being under the influence of drugs or alcohol when they committed their offense. 19 percent of state prisoners and 16 percent of federal prisoners committed their crimes in order to purchase drugs. Those stats tell me that it is no simple argument and those that try and portray it as such are dishonest.

Our justice system has too little justice and much too little foresight about the consequence.

it frustrates me to the point of anger, but anger is unpatriotic, we hear.