Comparison and Contrast of Current and Proposed Pre-Trial Release Methodology

This system has evolved into a commercial bail activity, with the guarantor or responsible party being the citizens. The resulting drain on the budgets of local law enforcement agencies has rendered them crippled in their efforts to recover fugitives. The law enforcement agencies are left with thousands of un-served warrants and their respective reputations in the community stripped of the honor that they once held. Pre-trial services were designed to give the court more accurate information about defendants, their previous criminal history, ties to the community, work history and current home life conditions. The system is also designed to relieve the prison populations of indigents unable to raise funds to post a cash or surety bail.

An individual that fails to appear (FTA) for his court date encumbers the system with the investigation costs, additional incarceration time when captured, as well as the costs to adjudicate the charges again. The costs not accounted for are the preparation of the defense council, the prosecution team and the handlers of the defendant multiple times for the same criminal charges. Additionally, the community and its resulting tax base suffers as the comfort zone of the citizens diminishes in direct relation to the loss of safety felt by an unprotected community as fugitives run loose with no fear of punishment from the judiciary. The community turns over, with the affluent leaving to seek safer more conservative values, the poorer having to stay behind and suffer. Their suffering is a direct result of a system designed to assist them. I suggest that the thought process and the evolution of Pre-Trial Release are inherently flawed.

Pre-trial Release has evolved into a system where any defendant, no matter the severity of accusation, can seek and achieve release from incarceration. The number of FTA’S a defendant has, the progressive nature and level of crimes allegedly perpetrated, the ever increasing list of victims in fear seems to have no bearing on their decision. The defendants learn from each encounter with law enforcement and the court system. If there is no penalty for ones actions or behaviors, there exists no deterrent to crime. The Pretrial Release system has become a game, a game played by masters of manipulation, and we the citizens are losing every time.

In a society where we as parents can be severely punished for disciplining our children, in a valiant effort to never have them incarcerated in the first place, we are left to the discipline of the courts. The same courts teach them that there are minimal or no penalties for their actions. The result is a lawless and dangerous society, one not fit to live in, and the playground of the criminal who respects no laws or individuals.

This system that has already failed by even the most liberal measure, now is pushing for increased exposure to our defendants. Requesting bonds under $5,000.00 be mandatory as ten percent to the court, with no system for collecting on forfeitures or fugitives is absurd. Lawyers posting their own bonds for their clients, using the reimbursement of the bond as payment for services after completion of the case is equally oppressive. An individual with a paid criminal attorney deserves every opportunity under the law. When this attorney represents his/her client in a bail review, he/she is now biased. Instead of asking for release on recognizance (ROR), they ask for a reasonable bail, one that will leave them with sufficient funds when the trial is over. This represents a serious conflict of interest, as well as one that takes advantage of a defendant and their respective families.

To really expose the flaws of this system, any individual that posts a cash bond to the court, now accepts and is empowered by all the rights of a bondsman. That means that they can re-arrest their charge in the event that they miss court, in order to seek the remedies due them as a result of the bail contract, written or verbal. The resulting efforts to redeem themselves without the training and expertise of a Professional or Surety Bondsman can result in placing communities in harms way. Imagine the new boyfriend seeking to assist his girlfriend after she bonded out a previous boyfriend on a cash bond. I don’t want him coming to my door by mistake, kicking it in and forcing me to defend my family and property, do you?

Let the Bondsmen do their job, quietly and professionally. So what if an individual has to stay in jail because he or she can’t raise bond. Let that be a deterrent to crime not an excuse to change a system that works. Maybe they can’t raise bond because their own family is tired of their shenanigans, and wants them to stay there and learn a lesson. Who is better to make that decision then the family? Do we presume to know better then them as a result of a single interview? I think not. Those that can’t raise bail and don’t represent a flight risk can be ROR’d by a judge in a bail review, another system already in place.

I am a Professional Surety Bondsman, a Licensed Private Investigator, a DC-CJA Investigator and a Bail Enforcement Agent. I have spent years training and being trained to perform my job with professionalism, integrity and compassion. I am a recognized expert in my field with a National reputation, I have been written about on CNN and other publications. I am not alone. With close to 3000 fugitive arrests in 34 states, my team and I have been responsible for the service of over 4000 warrants, at NO COST to you, the American taxpayer.

If it is not broken, don’t fix it!

R.E.”Scott” MacLean III

Scott MacLean is the owner of Chesapeake Bail Bonds and Chesapeake Group Investigations, Inc., serving Southern Maryland and Northern Virginia from La Plata, Maryland. He is an accomplished Bail Enforcement Agent, Professional Bail Bondsman and Licensed Private Investigator. He has been the subject of numerous articles about his accomplishments and the commercial bail industry. Scott has been a frequent poster on Bail Industry groups and is an educator and public speaker on Bail Industry issues. He is also the head instructor for The National Association of Bail Enforcement Agents, Falls Church, VA.