SAN DIEGO – On our state and San Diego city ballots, we have opportunities to make our criminal justice system more fair and responsive. State Prop. 25 would eliminate the money bail system for defendants prior to their trials, replacing it with a system based on risk assessment. Measure B on the City of San Diego ballot would create an independent Commission on Police Practices.
Proposition 25 is the more complicated of the two measures. Today, people charged with crimes either are released on their own recognizance, if they are not considered flight risks, or they are released upon payment of bail as a guarantee that they will appear in court. If you’re wealthy, you may be able to get out on bond, even if the case against you is a lot stronger than one against someone who is poor.
Recognizing that this was an unfair system, the state Legislature and the governor enacted a law that would allow most people, except those accused of the most serious crimes, to be released on their own recognizance, unless a judge determines the defendant is a flight risk. To help the judge decide, a point system would be devised by the courts to determine how great a flight risk a defendant is. A flight-risk determination under this point system could be overruled according to a judge’s discretion.
The reason that we’re voting on this issue on Nov. 3 is that the bail bond industry, which makes millions of dollars by charging fees to put up defendants’ bail money, pooled its resources to finance a referendum on the law, which pending the outcome of the election has not yet gone into effect.
In short a ‘Yes’ vote sustains the judgment of our Legislature and the governor, whereas a ‘No’ vote substitutes the self-interest of the bail bond industry. Clearly, the opposition is more interested in the bail bond industry’s desire to make money off people’s misery than in the betterment of our criminal justice system.
Measure B on the City of San Diego’s ballot would replace the current Community Review Board on Police Practices with an independent Commission on Police Practices that would have the power to conduct investigations and hire a legal staff that would be independent of either the Police Department or the City Attorney’s office, thereby minimizing potential conflicts of interest.
With demands for racial justice on the rise all over the country, including in San Diego County, proponents of this measure want the Commission to be able to make independent findings in the case of police shootings, or in cases of alleged police misconduct.
The push for this reform has been so strong that no opposition was offered by any organized group or individual who could have submitted a ballot argument.
It makes sense to have a Commission, appointed by the City Council, investigate cases in a transparent manner and to help maintain citizen confidence in our police officers.
Our recommendations:
Yes on Proposition 25
Yes on Measure B
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Donald H. Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com
Mr. Harrison, I am not sure where the problem lies here. You stated early on that there are two options for release in CA, release on your own recognizance or having to pay bail. Judges can already decide to release people without having to pay a bond…so why do we need SB 10 (the law, that Proposition 25 if passes, will implement)? What you fail to recognize in your analysis above is that the use of so called “money bail” plays an important role in the criminal justice system. It serves as an incentive to defendants to return to court. It serves as a promise to the crime victim that someone will be responsible for ensuring that defendant has their day in court. By eliminating that incentive and simply releasing people for FREE, your are essentially eliminating accountability and making our communities less safe and just for crime victims. Additionally, Proposition 25 will place a computer algorithm into our pretrial system. These algorithms have been proven to be racially bias towards people of color. In fact the ACLU, BLM and Human Rights Watch to name a few, have already come out against these algorithms and recommended a NO VOTE on proposition 25. Proposition 25 also allows for the detention of people deemed too risky by the racially biased algorithm. These people will now be detained and not be allowed to bail at all. Which by the way is against the California State constitution. There are so many problems with this proposition, I could go on for hours. Proposition 25 supports a bad law and would be detrimental to public safety in CA. VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 25.