Admin said: Due process

What due process means is that you are not supposed to be punished unless you meet a criteria for that decided by the government. A lot of countries claim you have that but it's just a facade, you dont need to be convicted of a crime to be locked up, a lot of people are locked up just because they are suspected of a crime while waiting for a trial, they end up suffering even if they are eventually acquired, they will also have to go through the trauma and stress that come with having to go to court. Click to expand...

What can happen is, they detain a guy pending trial, and then find reasons to keep pushing the trial date back (e.g. in my case, they kept asking for more mental health evaluations, which stopped the clock on the constitutional speedy trial requirement); and then he figures, "Well, I've accumulated so much time served, plus I'm in such a bad position to be trying to contest my case since I'm in jail, that I might as well just plead guilty at this point." Then people say, "Well, it's not a big deal that we detained him because the fact that he ultimately pleaded guilty means that he actually committed the crime anyway so therefore deserved to be locked up; whether that was before or after he was adjudged guilty doesn't really matter."If a defendant is in jail, it's harder for him to proceed pro se, or continue working at his job to pay the legal bills, or try to find witnesses who will testify in his behalf. A lot of defendants will say, "I have this guy's number in my cell phone, who was there when the shooting went down and can testify that I'm innocent, but I can't get to my phone because I'm in jail, and unfortunately I don't know his last name, and he doesn't have a fixed address because he was living on someone else's couch in the trailer park." A public defender is not necessarily going to go try to chase down that lead; he doesn't have time because he has too many cases, but it would be easy for the defendant himself if he weren't detained.Now they're trying to get rid of cash bail, which means that even if you have supportive friends or family who would put up the money to help you get out of jail, it won't help, because your detention will be based on the judge's assessment of how dangerous you are, how much of a flight risk, etc. The point of cash bail was to give you an incentive not to jump bail, because your money, or your friends' or family's money, would be forfeited if you didn't show up. Now that incentive is gone.