Overcriminalization significantly undermines human flourishing and social well-being by harming the family, social networks, and social citizenship. Additionally, it prevents capable men and women from utilizing their creative capacities in the marketplace. This creates vast issues involving relations with family while incarcerated and reintegration into society after release. On the economic side, draconian cash bail systems undermine justice through basing someone's ability to attain pre-trial release upon their wealth, not their actual threat to society.
"What we’ve learned from experience is that when jurisdictions first tackle moving away from secured money bond, without raising the bar on who may be detained and how, the system continues to cause unnecessary detentions. To make detention the exception rather than the rule, it needs to be more like hospital admissions and less like ordering from Domino’s."
Pretrial Justice Institute
August 8, 2018
Read More"The fact that 97% of people resolve their cases through plea deals—without benefit of jury trial and the presumption of innocence—does not shock the conscience because there is a sense that if you are involved in the system you must have done something wrong."
Pretrial Justice Institute
July 24, 2018
Read More"When we start turning people toward better alternatives—deflecting people with behavioral needs to services, issuing citations for low level charges instead of booking, and keeping people with high probabilities of success in the ecosystems of employment and family that create stability—we will move toward a commonsense and right-sized system of justice that is required by the Constitution, supported by the evidence and demanded by the people."
Pretrial Justice Institute
July 12, 2018
Read More"Rothgery’s experience reflects what research has shown: people represented by legal counsel at bail hearings are more likely to be released on recognizance, have bail set at a lower amount when it is set (by an average of $600), and spend significantly less time in jail (two days, compared to nine days for those without counsel)."
Pretrial Justice Institute
June 26, 2018
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