Today’s blog will be brief. You should not set the bail for a crime for any reasons other than to make sure the suspect appears in court, and to prevent further heinous acts.
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I’m speaking about the woman who ran down the crowd at the homecoming parade. She is being hit with bail in the millions (so far.) Is she a flight risk? No. Is she a menace behind the wheel? Yes. Is she seriously mentally ill? Apparently.
The proper solution is not to set a high bail for her, but to commit her to a mental institution for diagnosis/treatment. She’s not likely to charter a jet and grab her passport to flee to Belize. She might drive again. That’s bad. But that’s what speedy trials are for, not bail. If she did something, throw the book, lock her up after conviction, and be done with it for a long time.
Bail is often abused in this country. It is a surety to make sure you show up in court. The example of police officers arrested for manslaughter in the death of a prisoner is a great example. In Baltimore they made the bail much higher for those officers than required to “send a message.” Normally, people with jobs, families, and a stake in clearing their reputation would be given minimal bail or remanded on their own recognizance. Punitive bail is abuse of the system.
I don’t advocate ramming your car into a crowd for a drunken moment. But I’m equally sure that I don’t approve of political bail. Banana republics do that to keep their political enemies imprisoned.
That is all.
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