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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 8, 2015 12:09 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Daylin Leach |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Legislation to End Pre-trial Detention for Failure to Make Bail |
| In the near future, I will be introducing legislation to end pre-trial detention for failure to make bail in Pennsylvania. On any given day in the United States, nearly 500,000 people who have not been convicted of a crime are incarcerated, which is more than half of our country’s entire incarcerated population. They are incarcerated because they fail to make bail. This is unfair, discriminatory, enormously expensive, and destructive to those individuals and their families. Ultimately, this practice makes our society less safe. The people most likely to be unable to make bail are poor people, since wealthy people who are charged with crimes simply pay their bail. Ironically, people who are wealthy, who can usually afford bail, are, on average, given lower bail than poorer people for the same crime. Further, according to numerous national studies, people of color are subject to significantly higher bail. People who sit in jail for months awaiting trial often lose their jobs and children, even if they are acquitted. After spending every day surrounded by other inmates, the acquitted must return to their now shattered lives. They have few options for employment and are now more likely to commit crimes. For this awful result, we the taxpayers pay thousands of dollars per month per individual to incarcerate presumptively innocent people. The traditional argument for bail is that it is necessary to secure attendance at trial. We now know how untrue that is. Washington D.C. has virtually eliminated monetary bail but their flight rates have not changed and in some instances, have improved. If bail is ineffective at securing future appearances at trial, there really is no justification for it. My bill will not eliminate bail entirely, instead it will:
If you have questions about this legislation, please contact my Legislative Director, Jon Tew, at jtew@pasenate.com or 610-768-4200. |