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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 11:32 pm
Time: 11:32 pm
Results for bail (baltimore, maryland)
1 results foundAuthor: Justice Policy Institute Title: Bailing on Baltimore: Voices from the Front Lines of the Justice System Summary: In Baltimore City, the bail system relies almost exclusively on financial conditions of release, or money bail. All adults who are arrested are processed at the Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center (Central Booking). After they have been booked, people attend a bail hearing where a District Court bail commissioner sets the initial bail amount. The State’s Attorney may make recommendations regarding the bail amount, but the commissioner is not required to accept these recommendations. In most cases, the bail commissioner has the authority to release people on their own recognizance, but in Baltimore City, this rarely occurs. In fact, most people in Baltimore City are not offered release under any conditions. On February 13, 2012, the jail population in the Baltimore City jail was 3,605 people, and 57 percent of the people were in custody due to not being offered bail on one or more of their charges. Bail commissioners are appointed by the Administrative Judge and must hold a bachelor’s degree but are not required to be lawyers or have any sort of certification or background in criminal justice. If a person pays their bail amount in full or procures the services of a for-profit bail bonding company, they are released. If they are detained in jail because they cannot pay the initial amount, they go before a judge during the next session of court for a bail review hearing. At the bail review hearing, the judge makes the final bail decision and may change the commissioner’s initial decision, including modifying the amount of bail or releasing a person on their own recognizance. However, data show that judges change the decision of the commissioners in less than a fourth of all cases. In effect, bail commissioners most often decide who is released on personal recognizance, who receives bail or who is held without bail. This report is the product of interviews with thirteen individuals with knowledge about or direct experience with the pretrial justice systems in Baltimore City and Washington, D.C. From March to May 2012, researcher Jean Chung sat down with residents of Baltimore City who had been in jail as well as criminal justice advocates, attorneys, judicial officials, and pretrial services providers in Baltimore City and Washington, D.C. The purpose of this report is twofold: first, to document and make heard the perspectives and stories of people whose lives have been affected by the bail system in Baltimore City; second, to identify the policy reforms that are most relevant and needed to improve the Baltimore City bail system. Details: Washington, DC: Justice Policy Institute, 2012. 34p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 27, 2012 at: http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/bailingonbaltimore.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/bailingonbaltimore.pdf Shelf Number: 126481 Keywords: Bail (Baltimore, Maryland)Pretrial Release |