The 2^nd Judicial District is leading the way in bond reform in the state.

“So what does that have to do with me?” one might ask.

If you and everyone you know are law-abiding citizens, your answer might be, “Not much.” If you make a decent living and have savings, your answer could be the same.

But that could change.

Imagine being down on your luck, the type of down on your luck that involves having to make choices between paying the electric bill and buying groceries. Imagine getting arrested for a minor crime, a misdemeanor. You’re placed in the basement jail and your bond is set, now you must pay to get out. Yet you have no money, and the 15% a bail bondsmen will charge you for the privilege of buying your way out of jail just adds more debt on top of debt.

So you sit in jail until your court date. Maybe you lose your job that doesn’t pay that much to begin with, but at least it was a job.

Many would read the above and argue that the person in this situation did something wrong and should be in jail. However, that argument is completely at odds with the foundation of the justice system. You are presumed innocent until it is proven you are guilty.

Now read the above scenario again, and consider whether it’s fair to keep someone in jail who has not been proven guilty, solely because they don’t have the cash to pay bond. Go one step further: what if that person is actually innocent of the charges?

Under the previous bond system, this could, and did, happen. And sometimes, by the time the person charged with the crime made an appearance before a judge, they would chose the lesser of two evils: pleading guilty to a crime they might not have even committed just to get the whole ordeal over with and get back to their lives — after all, they’d already served the maximum sentence on their crime anyway. Pleading not guilty would mean back to jail to await a trial.

Some would say bond reform means criminals that should be in jail will be out without bond, but that’s simply not true. In fact, there will be more processes in place to keep those dangerous to themselves and others right where they need to be, which is incarcerated. Magistrates, the DA’s office and judges all may weigh in on whether someone poses a threat to society and should not be released.

A bond is solely an effort to make sure someone shows up to court by making the person charged with a crime put some skin in the game. It’s not meant to be punishment for those who don’t have money to begin with.

If one is still asking, “So what does that have to do with me?”

Then the answer may be: Everything, if being fair and just, not discriminating, even inadvertently, against the less privileged is important.