Bails and Plea Deals

While driving home from practice I turned on NPR, the program on at the time surrounded the bail system. A woman from the Bronx was talking about how incrimination rates are especially high among low-income minorities. This was because they often took plea deals. In the American Justice system, those who cannot afford bail are sent to jail for the time being, while those who post bail are free to go home. For those who can’t afford bail, a plea deal is a way out. Oftentimes those who get arrested the primary earners in their family. A plea deal gives these people a chance to continue to work and go home to their families every night. The Bronx Freedom Fund gives a chance for low-income offenders to post bail. Their tagline is: “Poverty is not a crime, but every day thousands of New Yorkers await trial in city jails because they cannot afford bail, which is often as low as $250.” The benefit of bail is that the money is recycled back to you after the case is over. Bail is used to ensuring that the accused does not skip town, so as long as you return for the hearing, your money is returned. The Bronx Freedom Fund gathers money from charitable donors, creating a fund to post bail for people. They found that the majority of the people that they posted bail for, once they were tried in court, were found not guilty. This fund allows innocent low-income offenders, to justifiably walk away scot-free.

Conversely, in class, we learned about how the Justice System relies heavily on plea deals. If every charge we're to be tried in court, there would be too many cases. While the Bronx freedom fund is a fantastic cause that saves innocent people, it contradicts the necessity of plea deals. The system needs to be reformed in a way that benefits both the justice system and those who are innocent. That could simply mean arresting fewer people.