Adams, Broomfield, and Weld County Bail Bonds

Bail reform advocates are like a broken record, playing the same old song repeatedly. The tune is predictable. The American judicial system is evil because most states allow the use of cash bail. The cash bail system – a source of income for thousands of law-abiding, hard-working Americans – means a court decides how much money a defendant must pay to be released from jail. But for states that have outlawed the practice, the jukebox has started to play a new song.

Prisons across America are overcrowded, leading to budget woes, violence, and health issues. Supporters of bond reform insist issues like these could be solved, if we’d end the cash bail system and stop incarcerating poor people who shouldn’t be jailed in the first place. We agree on overcrowding, budget woes, violence, and health issues – but all because an offender can’t afford bail? The topic of bail bonds reform is complicated, and not often solved when you’re playing someone’s heart strings.

In a move that can only be described as Liberal Bait and Switch, Americans For Prosperity (AFP) are encouraging West Virginia lawmakers to adopt bail bonds reform adopted in New Jersey! The only problem with their effusive praise of the NJ program, which has supposedly “meaningfully lowered the burden faced by taxpayers,” is that it ignores the consequences of an 800-lb gorilla lumbering across a floor of flimsy wax paper. Namely, he crashed right through and made a huge mess.

The debate about bail bonds reform across the United States is kind of like what’s going on with the Coronavirus. People need to pay attention because of potentially deadly consequences, take care of themselves and fellow man, and exercise caution. Without overreacting! Because not every preventive measure works as intended.

The notion that bail bond laws are senseless just doesn’t make any sense. Judges and magistrates have leeway to begin with. It’s like trying to answer, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” and turning that into, “Do crimes make the courts, or do courts make the crime?”

As was the case in Adams County, Broomfield County, Weld County, Denver and throughout Colorado bail reform was sold to the people of New York State as a common-sense solution to the problem of harmless, innocent people being unable to make bail. The new laws would set things straight and ensure these 'victims' of the bondsman and the larger bail system would no longer be unjustly incarcerated.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is having second thoughts about bail reform just one month after the state’s catch and release, no-bail law went into effect. The reasons why the mayor - formerly a staunch bail bonds reform advocate - is now instituting a political course correction is because exactly what opponents of the law said would happen has happened. Bail reform opponents warned politicians in New York that they were opening a Pandora’s box that could lead to a lawless state. Mayor de Blasio disagreed; until new statistics showed they were right. Now the mayor wants changes to bail reform.

As New York politicians scramble to adjust their anti-bondsman stands to conform more closely with public sentiment the first chickens have come home to roost following the recent implementation of that state's so-called 'bail reform' law. Two incidents, in particular, have been garnering a fair amount of media attention and for good reason. They are perfect examples of exactly what prosecutors, law enforcement and the more enlightened legislators in Albany warned about. Let’s take a closer look at these events.