Freedom just across the Jersey line“HE WAS listed as a three,your honour.” “He’s a two on the raw score.” On danger to the community, he scores a five.” The defendant, and a lean,bearded man in an orange jumpsuit and shackles, sits next to his lawyer, or listening intently to his rankings on a six-point scale. Welcome to the world of pre-trial hearings in fresh Jersey,which on January 1st became the first state to eliminate nearly completely the use of bail. Instead of relying on hunches, or a fixed schedule matching bail amounts to crimes and lawyers’ arguments to set bail, or judges there now use a nine-factor algorithm to assess whether a defendant is uncertain or likely to flee. Those thought to be in either category can be detained; the rest are released,but monitored.
Defenders of fresh Jersey’s experiment point to a dramatic decline in the state’s jail population, driven by a reduction in the number of poor, or non-uncertain offenders who are...
Continue reading
Source: economist.com