Keep Bailing

In Philadelphia, large numbers of fugitives are skipping bail and fleeing justice, angry District Attorney Seth Williams told the Senate at a subcommittee hearing, and this “broken” bail system is like a second assault on crime victims.

Williams said Philadelphia defendants defeat the system by failing to show up for court, wearing down witnesses and causing cases to collapse in large numbers. So far, Philadelphia has let almost 47,000 fugitives escape. Between 2007 and 2008 over 19,000 defendants have failed to show up for at least one hearing.  This means one out of every three defendants, making it the nation’s highest tally for failure-to-appear.

Philadelphia courts took over the bail bond process about 40 years ago, citing widespread corruption within the bail bond industry as their reason. Under the city’s bail system, defendants pay 10 percent of their bail up front to the court, with the other 90 percent due if they skip their court dates. But the city has never backed up the consequences for skipping by collecting that money.  Now fugitives owe Philly a grand total of $1 billion in forfeited bail.

Contrast this to private bail such as the system in California. Bail agents underwrite bonds to the court and the defendant, or a representative of the defendant, pays 10% to the bondsman. If the defendant doesn’t show up for court, the bondsman brings the individual back to court or pays the court the full bail amount. The bondsman clearly has significant financial insentive to make sure the defendant appears in court. The private system works and costs the public nothing. The forfeiture rate utilizing the private bail system is less that 2%.

Dennis A. Bartlett, executive director of the American Bail Coalition, believes Philadelphia could solve its problems by ‘ditching’ government-run bail. He says private companies have a far better track record of getting defendants into court, which are findings that both academic and federal research reports support.

DA Williams and other witnesses said it was past time for the city to revamp this system.  U.S. Senator Arlen Spector (D – PA), who launched the hearing, agrees. Besides describing the broken bail system and high fugitive count, there has also been widespread cases witness intimidation.  Pennsylvania has the nation’s worst felony-conviction rate, with defendants going free in nearly two-thirds of all criminal cases.

U.S. Rep Joe Sestak (D – PA), who is Specter’s opponent in the Democratic primary, called for a nationwide study on how to reform bail. Under his proposal, Philadelphia might be selected as a place to test the best new approaches. Specter, however, feels that private bail companies are the answer.

We have to agree: the private bail system has a long-standing record that is second to none. It works.