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Donkees

(31,075 posts)
Mon May 13, 2019, 02:30 PM May 2019

Philly's work to reform cash bail should inspire the nation - Bernie Sanders

Updated: May 13, 2019 - 12:00 PM
Bernie Sanders, For the Inquirer

After decades of politicians in Washington supporting mass incarceration, America is now spending $80 billion a year to lock up 2.2 million people — the highest incarceration rate in the world. What’s more, in a country that prides itself on the principle of presuming innocence, nearly half a million people who are in jail across the country haven’t even been convicted of any crime — and that includes roughly 60 percent of all prisoners in Pennsylvania. That is because many people accused of a crime cannot afford bail.

This creates a modern-day debtors prison. Add to that a racial wealth gap that leaves African American and Latino communities with higher rates of poverty, and “tough on crime” policies that disproportionately target those same communities, and what we have is a criminal justice system that is effectively criminalizing communities of color.

This is an international embarrassment — one that I and other progressives have been opposing for years in Congress. Our government today makes sure Wall Street criminals get bailouts and never face charges in a courtroom, while low-income people are locked away in jail cells simply because they are poor and have inadequate legal counsel.

When our movement defeats Donald Trump in 2020, things are finally going to change. But even before we get to that presidential election, the people of Philadelphia have an upcoming opportunity to start making changes right now in 2019. On May 21, you will have a chance to vote for local judicial candidates who pledge to end cash bail.

With this critical judicial primary on May 21, the people of Philadelphia have a chance to prove to the world that this kind of revolution in criminal justice is possible in America.

Your votes in your city’s upcoming election can start to fix our broken criminal justice system — and then your votes in the 2020 presidential election can help us bring that change to the entire country.

https://www.philly.com/opinion/commentary/end-cash-bail-philadelphia-judge-elections-bernie-sanders-20190513.html

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