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Keep Law Enforcement Away From Bail and Detention Policy

By Jeralyn

Law enforcement groups around the country got together for a day last year, and ten months later, have released a report concluding that more states need to follow the federal system of pre-trial release and adopt policies allowing for pre-trial detention -- and that law enforcement should play a key role in formulating such policies.

The report fails in its introduction (page 4), when it claims:

The group consisted of police executives from large, medium, and small jurisdictions; prosecuting attorneys; academic researchers and scholars; judges; and defense attorneys. (The complete list of attendees is attached as Appendix A.)

There are no defense attorneys listed in "Appendix A." (pages 14 and 15.) Of the two pages of attendees, there's a research director from a criminal defense organization. That's not a criminal defense attorney. To claim criminal defense attorneys (plural no less) participated in the group and agreed with the conclusion is just not true.

This matters, because it claims defense attorneys supported the conclusion:

The consensus among the group was that law enforcement can and should play a leadership role in addressing the issues relative to the pretrial process, particularly those that directly affect public and officer safety and defendant accountability.

[More...]

Second, it's one thing to support pre-trial service agencies who recommend bail conditions to the court. It's another to suggest cops should be part of setting the criteria used by these agencies or part of decision process. Federal pre-trial service departments are purposely independent, like probation officers. They work neither for the prosecution nor the defense, but for the Court. Impartiality is critical.

Law enforcement already has a role in pre-trial detention. The prosecutor calls the agent as a witness at the detention hearing. Any further role is not warranted and ill-advised.

What's behind this report? A few isolated instances of officers being killed by defendants on bond. The report begins with one such example and concludes with:

The ultimate goal of each of these efforts will be identical: to make certain that another tragedy like the one in which four Lakewood, Washington, police officers were slain by an individual at high risk for reoffending, who
was nonetheless out on bail, will never happen again.

Laws and legislative policy should never be enacted in response to a singular event, no matter how horrific. Cooler heads are needed. There is no reason to seriously consider, let alone adopt the conclusion of this one-sided report, particularly given the misrepresentation that defense lawyers (plural) were part of it.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 19, 2011 (boomark / email).