Nevada County’s Public Defender supports the latest legislation that’s been introduced to reform California’s bail system. State Senator Bob Hertzberg says he wants to replace a pretrial process that often forces people of modest means to remain in jail until a court can determine their innocence or guilt, but allows the wealthy to go free. Public Defender Keri Klein agrees it discriminates against low-income people, also calling it unconstitutional. But she says some jurisdictions, including Nevada County, are already trying out a release program that frees people without having to pay bail. The focus is on non-violent felony charges, especially drug offenses…
Klein also says allowing each county to set their own bails is unconstitutional. And the amounts are often exorbitant…
According to Hertzberg’s office, studies show that defendants who are held in jail for the entire pretrial period are four times more likley to be sentenced to jail and receive sentences that are three times longer than defendants with the same charge who are released prior to their trials. A spokeperson for Hertzberg says specific reforms are still being worked on. But they might be modelled, at least in part, on a pretrial program in Washington D.C that only detains defendants considered too dangerous to release into the community.
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