FOCUS: Senator Bernie Sanders | Bail Has Criminalized Poverty and Undermined the Tenet of 'Innocent Before Proven Guilty

27 July 18

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27 July 18 It's Live on the HomePage Now: Reader Supported News 911 CALL FOR DONATIONS: We have 48 hours to go and we are down 30% in donations from just 30 days ago. This is serious. We are doing everything we can. We need everyone who can make a donation to step up now. It is critical now. / Marc Ash - Founder, Reader Supported News Sure, I'll make a donation! FOCUS: Senator Bernie Sanders | Bail Has Criminalized Poverty and Undermined the Tenet of 'Innocent Before Proven Guilty'  Bernie Sanders, NBC News Sanders writes: "We need to reform a broken system that punishes Americans for crimes even if they're never convicted."  EXCERPT:  Overall, the U.S. spends nearly $14 billion each year locking people up who haven’t been convicted and might never be. It’s clear the system is a poor use of resources. In 2015, the city of New Orleans collected $4.5 million in bail, fines and fees, but spent $6.4 million detaining people who couldn’t afford to pay their bail, fine or fee. More than two decades ago, Washington, D.C. created a system where very few defendants are required to post cash bail to be released — in fact, about 90 percent of defendants are released on promises and conditions other than cash, and 90 percent of those released do not reoffend before trial. No one is locked up because of inability to pay. New Jersey implemented bail reform in 2017 and after a year, the pretrial jail population had dropped 20 percent. Philadelphia is moving to abolish cash bail for certain crimes. All across the country, progressive prosecutors are taking a look at the cash bail system and seeing how it can be reformed. READ MORE Contribute to RSN Become a Fan of RSN on Facebook and Twitter Update My Monthly Donation