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Comment by syshum | Hacker News Reader

The raw amount of the bail is not, and should not be relevant, as to a person with no money $1 bail is unattainable.

This is why the Cash Bail system is regarded as punishment for the poor, and in part what makes the Legal system different for the "rich" vs the poor

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I'm curious if you would still say the amount of bail is irrelevant if it were a well-off person getting a $1,000 bail. For what it's worth, bail is supposed to set to an amount based in part on the person's wealth. So for two people ~~convicted~~ accused of identical crimes, where one has 10x the means of the other, the bails should be 10x different. It doesn't always happen that way of course, but it is part of the guidelines.

Also, please keep in mind that bail is not punishment, it's just means of ensuring that the defendant will attend their trial. That's why it's refundable at the trial's end. Good bail should be low enough that defendant can afford to pay it, but not afford to lose it.

> So for two people convicted of identical crimes, where one has 10x the means of the other, the bails should be 10x different.

Accused, not convicted.

You're right, I misspoke (mistyped?). Fixed :)

You forget that bail is refunded upon appearing to the court. A rich person will post bail, gain their freedom, and get the bail refunded to them when they go to court. A poor person can not afford to post bail, so they will lose their freedom. No-one will "refund" this lost freedom to them in any form.

Only if the person puts up the bail directly

If you use a Bail Bonds Company you only put up normally 10%, to the bail company who keeps that as a service fee.

So if you had a $1,000 Bail, you can pay $1,000 to courts and be refunded when you show up, or $100 to a bail bonds company who will keep the $100.

If you are a poor person most of the time you will end up paying the $100 and never see that money again

Predatory lending is the biggest example of how "it's expensive to be poor in America." There's a few ongoing efforts to improve this situation, such as https://bailproject.org/ and https://www.vonzella.com/

Clearly you misunderstood my comment, I was making the case that if Cash bail is to exist it should be based on income,

The person i was replying to stated that the court did not take the danger seriously because they only applied and $1,000 bail, my point is to a Poor person that $1,000 may as well be $1,000,000. Where as to a billionaire than $1,000 is literally nothing

That is with out getting into the fact that if the person is a danger they should be denied bail outright, as slapping down some money to the state does not eliminate danger.

Bail as it was conceived was suppose to ensure the person showed up in court for face their crimes and a jury of their peers, it was not suppose to be about profit, or public safety, or punishment however cash bail system today is used for all 3 of those things and very little for its intended purpose

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