THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 27, 1996 TAG: 9603270006
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
A pretrial-release program is being run by the sheriff's departments or other city agencies of Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Newport News.
In Norfolk, this is a local agency run by the Sheriff's Department that releases people with violent and nonviolent misdemeanor charges from jail, free of charge. Pretrial release is paid by the number of defendants they interview, not the defendants actually in the program.
Once placed in the pretrial program, the defendants usually need to call only once a week to keep in touch with pretrial personnel. Also, if the defendant is put into the program and the pretrial personnel believe this person needs counseling but he or she cannot afford it, taxpayers foot the criminal's bill.
Pretrial release is funded by our own General Assembly, which has appropriated funds from our tax dollars for a whopping $2.6 million a year for this ``public bail'' program.
Pretrial release lets out a wide range of offenders who could afford to pay for their own release if made to do so. Criminals who pay for their own release to a bondsman relieve the taxpayer of a financial burden.
The pretrial-release program ignores the rule that if you reward poor performance, you get more poor performance. It sends the message that the person accused is not taken seriously. Also, the American Legislative Exchange Council in its report, ``Evidence of a Failed System'' (April 1995) found: By shifting away from government-secured releases toward privately secured releases the failure-to-appear rate can be cut dramatically and the streets and neighborhoods can be much safer.
In time, one of these criminals put into this ``public bail'' program will commit the horrendous crime of murder. The pretrial program is actually using the bondsman on certain difficult charges to really make sure the criminal comes to court. These actions show their program can't be relied upon, so they use the bondsmen for assurance.
It is time for taxpayers to say no to funding criminal-welfare programs and yes to the free-enterprise bond system of America.
REBECCA ROBERTS
Norfolk, March 5, 1996 by CNB