SB 252, if passed, will release most defendants or as the ACLU calls them the “Justice Involved”. Some will have no bonds or supervision, some will go into programs that will be paid for by you, the taxpayer. Bondsmen cost the taxpayers nothing and are financially accountable to the courts if our clients fail to appear in court and we can’t get them back in.
A few states have tried bail reform and it’s a disaster. They claim it’s working wonderfully. Here’s the real story:
Here is a study that proves that there are not thousands of people languishing in jail, losing their jobs, homes and families as claimed.
https://www.rochesurety.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Krahl-full-report-Languishing-Hypothesis.pdf
We now have some of the most lenient drug and theft laws in the country. The next step for the ACLU will be to provide the “Justice Involved” defendants with Uber rides to court, free daycare while in court and free phones to reschedule their court dates. That is what is being considered in Houston right now.
Dallas County has decided not to even prosecute people for breaking the law.
We are finally beginning to put some money into addiction and mental health treatment. That will be the most effective way to reduce the prison population. Bail Reform is not Criminal Justice Reform.
More than half of bondsmen these days are women. Many are single mothers. As Bondsmen, we are available to our clients 24/7. We constantly get calls at 3 AM from people who don’t know what time court is the next morning, which courtroom they are supposed to be in, don’t have a ride, got in an argument with their cosigner or think they need a warrant check because they just got pulled over by the police. We get out of bed and answer those calls. No government program will replace that. Yes, we get paid to do our jobs just as you do. But we do not just take the money. We provide a valuable service that will be hard to replace.
If we are going to end private bail and replace it with a government-run and taxpayer-funded program, we should at least come up with a reliable plan that works before we trash the one that has worked for hundreds of years, a program that balances accountability with compassion and concern for the people and families who need it.
There are several pretrial programs already in existence in many Oklahoma counties. These are the failure to appear numbers for this year in Oklahoma County for all non-bond programs. The actual names and case numbers are available to back up these percentages
