DUE 9/3

150 word minimum for each paper.. give your feedback(your opinion) on each paper.

PAPER#1 rennob

Each year, roughly 500,000 people are held in jail in the United States because they are unable to afford bail, (Bennett, 2018). Being unable to afford cash bail, regardless of the consequent length of stay in jail, can lead to psychological impacts, and loss of jobs, custody, and housing, according to researchers, (Jones, 2019). Additionally, those who cannot afford bail are significantly more likely to be convicted or plead guilty, according to the case of (O’Donnell v Harris, 2018).

Under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, cash bail systems are unconstitutional because they impermissibly discriminate against indigent persons and fail under heightened scrutiny. In the case of (Williams v Illinois, 1970),  the Court addressed whether an indigent could be held in prison after the statutory maximum of his crime “because of his failure to satisfy the monetary provisions of the sentence. Williams was convicted of theft and sentenced to one year of incarceration and a $500 fine. He was unable to pay his fine, so the judge ordered him to remain in jail to “work off” his payment at a rate of five dollars a day. The Supreme Court held that such punishment was unconstitutional under equal protection because the ceiling on imprisonment must be the same for all defendants regardless of their economic status, Williams v. Illinois, 399 U.S. 244 (1970).

Overall, efforts to reform bail policies have been underway in many jurisdictions, with the aim of reducing discrimination and promoting fairness in pretrial release decisions. These reforms include the use of risk-based assessments, the reduction or elimination of cash bail, and increased focus on individualized assessments. The goal is to ensure that pretrial detention is used only when necessary and that individuals are not detained solely because of their inability to pay bail, addressing the discriminatory effects of current bail practices.

PAPER#2 bria

It is startling to know that detained individuals, who may be innocent, are not able to appropriately fight their case due to the odds already being against them. According to Laura Sullivan's report, Shadu Green believes that he is innocent and, up until a specific point, is practically being made to plead guilty to something he believes he is not guilty of (2010). He wants to fight his case but cannot do it appropriately because he is behind bars and cannot afford a $400 bail bond. The system can be considered very faulty. Green was charged with a series of misdemeanors after he was pulled over by police officers. He does not have to continue to be in jail because the judge has granted bail. The problem is the amount of money the bail causes for and the amount that he is actually able to give. I believe that a better determination process can be created. It could better evaluate the individual's salary, crime, and circumstance. Kind of like how a child support court evaluates a childs monthly cost based on salary and circumstance. Collin Porter, from Clark University, has taken a deeper look into bail discrimination and racial disparities in the United States bail determination process (2021). He contends that there is a widespread use of monetary bail, as well as, a limited amount of financial resources for the majority of the defendants; specifically for African American men. I believe Mr. Green to be one of the African-American individuals affected by the determination process. With these factors combined it also creates confusion and dysfunction which produces overcrowding in jails (Jones, 2013, p. 921).