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The Effectiveness of Pretrial Bail in Ensuring that Criminals are Held Accountable for Their Actions
Abstract
There is an increased concern over the rising costs of maintaining the correction facilities. Law breakers are held as they wait for their trials thus exerting more pressure on the already congested prison facilities. Whereas the correction facilities are important part of the judicial system, the cost implications are and in some cases exceed the benefits that are reaped from them. Incarnation is preferred as the main form of punishment for the law breakers. The system has been in place since time in memorial and thus there is need for us to rethink and as well perform a cost versus benefits analysis. This paper thus questions the effectiveness of incarnation as a form of punishment and rehabilitation of the offenders. This informed by the high number of recidivism and the difficulties that prisoners experiences in their attempt to integrate back to the communities. The paper prompt scholars and policy makers to develop and promote alternative justice system that promote justice for the victims and as well the perpetrators. The system should also aim at reducing congestion and lower the costs of running the correction facilities.
Introduction
The issue of the management of the suspects prior to their cases has been a subject of debate for many years. The issue of inadequate judges to hear criminal cases combined with the large number of crimes ranging from petty ones to the most complicated ones such as murder and terrorism exerts pressure on the judicial system. This has led to overcrowding in the holding facilities and the costs of maintenance are high. There is thus a need for the legislators to come up with better ways of handling pretrial suspects. A good system will ensure that there is a balance between suspects being held accountable for their actions and economic burden of holding them in an enclosed facility.
Objectives
This paper will explore some trends in the history of our court systems with the aim of contributing to the discussion of the appropriateness of the bails and fine as tools that ease pressure on the prisons. The research paper is a qualitative review of other studies that have been carried out on the subject and also a review of government and other organization publications on the subject matter.
Background Information
Prisons are integral part of the justice system in any jurisdiction. It is one of the tools that are used in enforcing the rule of law. If well implemented, prisons should be able to offer the law breakers an opportunity to be guided toward rehabilitation and integration back to the communities. Prisons vary from one place to the other with the majority of them complaining of violation of their basic rights. Thus, the prisoners’ ends up not gaining any skills that will help them integrate back to the communities. The prison system has an upside to its benefits. Whereas the law breakers are sent there for rehabilitation, the costs of maintenances and general upkeep are very high. Thus, there is need for the justice systems all over the world to challenge the norm and opt for different form of punishments. The custody areas are not only meant for the proven guilty, even the accused at times are held to ensure that they will appear for the scheduled hearing. Thus, the bail system comes in as a tool that is used in ensuring that the accused retain their rights to freedom until proven guilty. This helps in reducing the costs of running the prison systems (Bazemore & Leip, 2000).
Incarnation
Incarnation is the main method of punishment in the United States for felonies and as well other offences. The 2013 statistics indicated that there were approximately 700 people that were incarnated per every 100,000 people. The United States Bureau of Justice Statistics indicated that 2,220,300 people were incarnated in the year 2013. This represented a 0.9 percent of adults in the United States. In addition, over 4.7 million people were on some form of probation in the same period bring the total population that was under supervision to just under 6.9 million in 2013 alone. In addition to this, there were over 54 thousands juvenile detentions. The cost of maintaining supervision and holding of such people is huge thus calling for alternative methods of administering justice to the criminal offenders (National research Council, 2014).
Other Studies
Numerous studies have been carried out to address the issue of overcrowdings in the prison and the effectiveness of the system in rehabilitating the criminals. A study by Goldkamp and White highlighted the need for the court systems to ensure that the arrested law breakers attend their hearings. This creates a smooth system whereby the public has trust with the court system to act in the best interest of the society (American Legislative Exchange Council, 1994). Whereas releasing the criminals back to the society on bail pending the court hearing may be dangerous in some cases, in others, it is the most ideal resolution. This will ease the pressures in the correction facilities, lower the economic burden of the state and ensure that they appear for the hearing and also for the conclusion of their cases. In addition, most court systems operate in a presumed innocence until proven guilty. Thus, the accused person should not be denied the rights to continue with their freedom and rights until they are proven guilty. Some studies have documented adverse effects on the accused where in some cases they have been unable to continue with their employments, education, or other family duties following an accusation (Goldkamp & White, 2006, p. 144)
It is important to note that the number of people that are facing some criminal charges is large. Most of these people are released in some form of restrictions with the most form of restriction being a bail. Nevertheless, the number of people who remain in confinement due to the inability to raise the bond or due to the nature of their crime is still high. It stretches the capacity of the confinement facilities and adds an economic burden to the justice system. This paper will thus challenge the systems that are faced by similar circumstances to device strategies that are aimed at reducing congestions in the confinement facilities; while at the same time ensuring that the criminals are held accountable for their actions (Goldkamp & White, 2006, p. 146).
According to a 2010 publication on the cost of maintaining prisoners in the city, the publication notes that New York holding facilities incurred a massive &167,731 for every inmate. This amounts to a significant portion of the budget. The annual average taxpayers cost per inmate was over $30,000 and over $60,000 in the Ney York City. The overall cost of maintaining the system was $39 billion (Santoria, 2013). This is a huge cost that could be channeled to other development agenda is an alternative system was in place that will reduce the numbers while maintaining accountability.
Recidivism
Another study noted that, in 275,000 prisoners that were released, over 65% of those prisoners were rearrested in the subsequent three years following their release. Out of those, over 50% of them were rearrested. The study did not show any indication that people who had spent more time in prison having higher recidivism rate. Although there were some indication that people who had been in prison for long had a lower recidivism rate, the findings were explained by the age of those people. The data showed a strong negative correlation between recidivism and the age of the prisoners. This is a clear indication of the ineffectiveness of holding people in prison as a way of punishment and a mean to correcting them. The above statistics point to a double cost to the government (Langan & Levin, 2002). The victims require the necessary support to get them back on track while the government bears additional costs of catering for the criminal supervision in the holding facilities.
There is thus, a need for the laws to be considerate of the harm that is suffered by the victim and as well by the community in determining the appropriate sentencing. In situations where the loss to the victim can be compensated in monetary values, then the court should allow such action to take place. This will ensure that justice is served both on the side of the perpetrator an as well on the victim side. Whereas the debates on bails are often marred with misinformation and misrepresentation of facts, if properly structured, it can ensure that the government burdens are reduced and at the same time justice is served. The pretrial justice serves to ensure that even the accused rights are not violated and that the judicial system does not create more burdens in an attempt to bring justice to an individual.
Conclusion
Human rights apply to both the victim and as well to the perpetrators. Whereas many times a criminal is perceived to be guilty even before they are convicted, the law requires that they be regarded as innocent until they are convicted. Thus, upon the mentioning of the case, the victim is supposed to be released pending the case hearing date. There is however the need for assurance that the suspect will appear before the court at the stated date and thus, a bail system is introduced. The suspects are asked to deposit an asset in real or in kind which will be redeemed upon the appearance at the scheduled date. The modern justice and bailing system allows so many suspects to be held as they cannot raise the bails asked or simply they are denied the bails. This exerts pressures on the correction department in terms of the resources and congestion owing to the high number of prisoners. This paper calls for reforms in the sector to ensure that the justice is served to the victims and as well the pressure on the resources is eased.
References
Bazemore, G., & Leip, L. (2000). Victim Participation in the New Juvenile Court: Tracking Judicial Attitudes Toward Restorative Justice Reforms. Justice System Journal, 21(2), 199-226. doi:10.1080/23277556.2000.10871282
Langan, P. A. & Levin, D. J. (June 2, 2002). Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994. (PDF). Bureau of Justice Statistics.
National Research Council, (2014). The Growth of Incarceration in the United States: Exploring Causes and Consequences. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Retrieved May 10, 2014:
Santoria, M. (2013, August 23). City’s Annual Cost Per Inmate Is $168,000, Study Finds - The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/nyregion/citys-annual-cost-per-inmate-is-nearly-168000-study-says.html?_r=0
American Legislative Exchange Council. (January 01, 1994). Bail reform: Restoring accountability to the criminal justice system. State Factor, 20, 1.)
