CHANGE

Bail has disrupted millions of lives. Changing bail is not only cost effective choice, but a moral and just choice. Washington D.C. is the only city who has decided that bail cannot be set, unless the accused can afford it. That means that not a single person in Washington D.C. is in jail because they cannot pay bail. 

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House Arrest

If someone was high risk in the sense that a court or pretrial services thought that this person was likely to flee they could be put under house arrest, except for work and school. This would allow a high risk person to be monitored, while still letting them contribute to their own lives, their family’s life, and their community.​ ​

New Training for Prosecutors

 ​Often prosecutors will find the guilt no matter what. Prosecutors are taught to see and find the guilty--that’s how they get paid. The more “bad guys” they put away, the better they do in their own job. If the state and city funded programs to train and retrain prosecutors on how to manage their job and see the real people they are dealing with, the amount of people locked up would go down. It would also be cost effective since holding just one person in prison for one year in Philadelphia costs $42,500.

Promise to Appear

The criminal justice system is based on the premise that people are innocent until proven guilty. Bail is a punishment for being accused of a crime. Instead, it is much more cost effective and valuable to have accused promise to appear. The accused go through pretrial services that make sure that they appear at their trial. Since many accused, especially those being accused for the first time or youth are very low-risk, and are almost guaranteed to show up for trial. This way is based off interviews and trust. This alternative would allow citizens to continue being productive in their own lives, instead of having their entire life disrupted. ​.

Funding For Schools

Schools are so underfunded, especially in the Philadelphia School District, that kids do not get the attention nor the education that they need. Investing a big portion of the state budget in education would widely benefit cities and communities. The crime rate would have to go down.

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