Bail reform is a hot topic in North Carolina. It was recommended by Chief Justice Mark Martin’s North Carolina Commission on the Administration of Law and Justice (report here) and jurisdictions across the state are embarking on reform. In this post I discuss some of the reasons why stakeholders are interested in the issue. In a companion post, I discuss reforms that they are implementing and evaluating. Public Safety One reason for the interest in bail reform is a concern that the current system undermines public safety. Although North Carolina law provides for five different conditions of pretrial release, the most commonly imposed condition is the secured bond. Because a secured bond requires money to obtain release, money plays a significant role in North Carolina’s pretrial justice system. As a result, wealthy but high-risk defendants can “buy” their way out of jail. Consider the drug trafficking defendant who receives a $2 million secured bond. If that defendant has financial resources he can post the bond himself or pay a bondsman to secure it. Either way the defendant walks out of jail and the bond is not forfeited if he engages in further drug crimes or kills or intimidates witnesses so that he can’t be brought to trial on the original charges. Because the bond only is forfeited if the defendant fails to appear in court, nothing inherent in the bond protects the public. It is argued that this type of under-supervision of dangerous defendants undermines public safety. Moreover, some assert that [...]
Faculty Coordinators
