To the editor: A vital ingredient is lacking from Occasions reporter Keri Blakinger’s wonderful piece underscoring the troubled history and growth of the Los Angeles County jail system — the position of money bail in perpetuating this disaster.
Practically 55% of the people in the Los Angeles County jails haven’t been convicted of a criminal offense; a recent report by the Vera Institute of Justice means that as many as 75% of these detained are there just because they will’t afford bail.
Money bail creates a two-tiered system of justice — one for the wealthy, and one other for everybody else. Below this technique, people who find themselves nonetheless legally harmless are responsible till confirmed rich.
We have to observe the lead of other states and jurisdictions which have safely minimized or eradicated money bail to repair our jails and stop wealth-based detention from occurring. Whereas Los Angeles has made meaningful strides in pretrial reform — notably, earlier than a suspect is arraigned — extra must be accomplished.
Jeremy Cherson, Los Angeles
The author is director of communications for the Bail Venture.
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To the editor: Your article briefly mentions the statement of a UCLA professor that “Los Angeles has a fantasy of itself being some sort of sunny utopia.”
That is the foundation of the issue. Individuals come right here for the climate and assume life right here will likely be straightforward with out winter to take care of. Therefore the inhabitants progress.
Confinement could be very troublesome, and reentering society after a stretch “inside” can be very robust. Consequently numerous folks proceed that seemingly unavoidable cycle: out and in of jail.
I don’t have the reply, but it surely appears to me that we have to think about the rights of people that don’t commit crimes. We deserve safety from profession criminals.
Bigger jails? What different choice do we have now?
Peter Marquard, Northridge