Voters to Decide

It is now up to New Jersey voters to weigh in on their bail bond reform. There is a measure on the ballot to eliminate the right to bail.

The bail bond issue is one of two constitutional amendments on the ballot this year. If the bail amendment passes, it would go into effect in 2017. It would eliminate the right to bail  - which is currently guaranteed in New Jersey.

Those in favor of the law say that too many violent offenders go free under the current system, while many who commit non-violent crime spend too much time in jail.

The New Jersey director of the Drug Policy Alliance, Roseanne Scotti says that half of the people in New Jersey jails are sitting there because they cannot afford bail. She says that similar changes have had positive affects in Washington DC and in Kentucky.

Opponents say that it would be an expensive change, transferring the monitoring of suspects to the courts rather than the bail bond businesses that do that now.

 

Posted on October 28, 2014 at 10:00 AM