The problems with the bail reform law in California
As people in the industry of bail bonds may know, last year, the California Senate passed SB 10 and was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown, which means that the law will now take away the money-based bail as an option for people that have been arrested and need to be released from jail until their corresponding trial.
According to this new law—which will be voted on again in November 2020—instead of claiming bail, a pretrial risk assessment will be carried out and approved by a panel of judges, or the judge itself. It will be their criteria to determine if a defendant should be released, based on the level of the offense, and how dangerous the defendant might be. Those accused of a low-level misdemeanor will be booked and released, while people charged with violent felonies within the last 5 years will usually be held. Judges will use an algorithm tool to help them determine the detention or release of the defendant.
However, what would this mean for bail bondsmen?
Bail bondsmen in Torrance and all over California, are worried about what could become of their future and crime rates if this law comes to force. The bail bond industry is fighting back. They managed to postpone the law from taking effect after they got enough signatures —400,000— to put in the ballot (election) next year and submit it to voters. Now, the other major issue is that it may be dangerous to release everybody without bail, because the new system seems unreliable, as it may not be objective enough and will leave the poor and the minorities unprotected.
In California, there are 2,700 licensed bail bondsmen and for each of those, there are at least two employees associated with the business. It’s a delicate situation for the
Torrance bail bondsman and the rest of the state, where more than 8,000 people are in danger of losing their jobs. This new law, if approved, will certainly be a big blow to the bail bond industry. People will simply no longer have a need to take out a bail bond or loan to get themselves or loved ones out of jail, or will be left out by biased judges and algorithm.
Another point to take into consideration, are all those bail bond agencies that have been family business for decades; as a bail bondsman from Torrance may say, “the bail bonds business has supported my family for years, and still supports my family. This company supported my grandparents and of course is now supporting my wife and my children.” This imminent change in the law will turn out to be a disappointment for all the solid companies with resonating background, and of course, their families and lifestyle.
Where exactly do the cons of this new law reside? Bail helps many people and families by giving defendants a chance to get their lives in order, no matter if they would end up behind bars in the long run. The bail bonds business is the reason defendants have been able to get their affairs done while waiting for trial; whether it is going home, explain the situation to their families, or prepared themselves for whatever the law has in store for them, starting with the trail. Otherwise, if this process is prohibited, defendants will be immediately swept out of their lives, with no way to help them.
Imagine a defendant gets arrested in the heat of the moment, but they’re innocent, or maybe the case isn’t that serious, this will be the perfect scenario for bail to enter the game and give this person an opportunity of returning to their life. People with this option at hand are more capable of getting their private attorney and get a strategy to appeal to. If there’s no bail, the accused may be transferred to the county jail until the next court date, leaving worries such as family, pets or job unattended.
When a person commits an aggravating crime, they’ll go to trial of course, but as for the many that get arrested for minor situations or that have only screwed it once, it will be a hard and unnecessary process to go through. Delays provided by bailing are important in these cases.
Yes, some families can afford to pay a bail bond no matter the price, but others can have more of an issue doing so, and there are also those who can’t even dream of paying a bond. In the end, it wouldn't make a huge difference, as an article issued trough WebWire would point out, “the issue is: In a perfect world where everyone could afford to post a bond, would it make any difference? That's like saying just because someone can't afford the healthcare, they don't deserve medical attention; so, you take it away from everyone. If the saying "if it isn't broken don't fix it" doesn't sound like a great idea, then what really is?
