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When it comes to criminal justice, what was radical a half century ago is apparently still radical today. In 1961, my organization, the Vera Institute of Justice, got its start with the Manhattan Bail Project, by testing and proving that most people accused of committing a crime can be safely released from custody and relied on to appear in court—without having to post money bail or to stay in jail until trial. bail bonds torrance

With strong bipartisan support for sentencing reform and re-entry supports for people leaving prison—making strange bedfellows of the likes of the Koch brothers and the ACLU—this is perhaps our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to effect comprehensive and enduring criminal justice reform. But to be successful, we need start at the beginning, at incarceration’s front door—our local jails. bail bonds collin county, collins bail bonds Despite the country growing safer—with violent crime down 49% and property crime down 44% from their highest levels more than 20 years ago—annual admissions to jails nearly doubled between 1983 and 2013, from six million to 11.7 million. This is equivalent to the combined populations of Los Angeles and New York City and nearly 20 times the annual admissions to state and federal prisons. los angeles county jail booking

Although most defendants admitted to jail over the course of a year are released within hours or days, rather than weeks or months, even a short stay in jail can have dire consequences. Research has shown that spending as few as two days in jail can increase the likelihood of a sentence of incarceration and the harshness of that sentence, reduce economic viability, promote future criminal behavior, and worsen the health of the largely low-risk defendants who enter them—making jail a gateway to deeper and more lasting involvement in the criminal justice system. bail bond los angeles, los angeles bonds