Civil rights groups want to put bail bond industry on death row
A man poses with a sign at a a recent bail reform vote in New Orleans. ACLU
“We have friends in the legislature who understand and appreciate our important role in the criminal justice system BUT we have to insure that they get re-elected in order to be there to help us in the future,” the Texas Bail PAC
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Bail reform movement gets powerful ally: California’s top judge
Jeff Clayton, executive director of the American Bail Association, which represents bail-bond companies, pointed out that many places that have eliminated bail have also allowed prosecutors to ask that certain defendants — those deemed the most dangerous or likely to flee — be detained before trial without a chance at release.
“If you think you’re going to reduce mass incarceration you’re sorely mistaken, because you’re giving the government the power of preventative detention,” Clayton said in an interview.
He also argued that there are effective ways to reduce prison populations that have little to do with bail, such as reducing the number of offenses that carry the presumption of arrest.
“They’re attacking the wrong problem,” Clayton said of the reformers.
Clayton said he saw California, Ohio, Florida, New York and Delaware as the biggest battlegrounds this year.
“I don’t feel any more threatened because someone’s starting another campaign,” he said. “What more can they do to you than what they’re doing right now?”
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