Month: June 2020

by Voss Studler on Bail Out

The Black Love Bail Out

Everyday an average of 700,000 people are condemned to local jails and separated from their families. A majority of them are there simply because they cannot afford to pay bail.

The organizations involved in the National Bail Out are working to end money bail and in the meantime get as many people out of cages and back to their families as we can.

Starting on Feb 14th – Black Love Day – organizations working to #EndMoneyBail and pretrial detention in Memphis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Alabama, and Texas will coordinate a month of Bail Outs in observance of Black History Month and International Women’s Month.

The Black Love Bail Out is an extension of the long struggle for Black freedom.

In the tradition of our enslaved Black ancestors, who used their collective resources to purchase each other’s freedom before slavery was abolished, until we abolish bail and mass incarceration, we will free ourselves though this community bail fund.

In preparation for our second annual Black Mamas Bail Out in May, the Black Love Bail Out will continue to bring attention to the impact of pre-trial detention and mass incarceration on Black people, and specifically black women and femmes and will feature the release of our toolkit as we invite more communities to join us.

Support the Black Love Bail Out by donating to the National Bail Out and sign up for Appolition and give your spare change.

Why do we do bail outs?

Everyday tens of thousands of people languish in jail simply because they cannot afford bail. In addition to the over $9 billion wasted to incarcerate people who have been convicted of no crime, pre-trial incarceration has catastrophic impacts on families and communities. Even a few days in jail can ruin a person’s life. They may lose their job, their family may lose housing and some even lose their children.

Since 1980, the number of incarcerated people has grown by 500%. Fed by a racist War on Drugs, that our current Attorney General Jeff Sessions is trying to resurrect, millions of people have been taken from their families.

Pre-trial incarceration has catastrophic impacts on our communities in particular. Black people are over two times more likely to be arrested and once arrested are twice as likely to be caged before trial.

Our LBGTQ and gender nonconforming family are targeted and caged at even more alarming rates, and once in jail are significantly more likely to be sexually and physically abused.

For instance, one in five transgender women have spent time in prison or jail and one in three of them reported being sexually assaulted while there.

What can you do?

We can buy their freedom and push against mass criminalization and modern bondage! A donation to the National Bail Fund funds getting someone out of jail or providing them with the help they need.

The great news is that most of the bail money is ultimately returned so your contribution can cycle through and support multiple Bail Outs.

Or make a consistent contribution by signing up for Appolition – the digital tool that allows you to give your spare change from purchases to National Bail Out.

What we have done so far…

National Bail Out to free black mamas

Since May 2017 over 14,000 people have donated to the National Bail Fund, bringing nearly 200 people home to their families and communities, where they belong.

Thanks to your support organizers and community members in Oakland, Los Angeles, St. Petersburg, Montgomery, Memphis, Durham, Atlanta, Houston, New York City, Little Rock, Charlottesville, John Simon, Charlotte, Kinston, Birmingham, Baltimore, Philadelphia, St. Louis and the D.C. area welcomed community members home with love, support and offerings. 

Now we are working hard to help our people get back on their feet. Because our cities and states invest in jails and cages instead of services or support many our people do not have the basic resources they need to take care of themselves or their families.

With your generosity, the National Bail Fund has been able to provide short-term housing, healthcare, transportation, drug treatment, and mental health services to those who need it.

 
by Voss Studler on Bail Out

Getting out Jail After Arrest

So let’s talk a little about getting out of jail after you’ve been arrested. We’re are going to look at the process of getting yourself out and another person.

If you’ve been arrested before, one of the very thoughts that’ll come into your mind is to get out and many almost always go for post bail.

Bail is cash, property or a bond that an arrested must give to a court to make sure that he or she will appear in court when he’s summoned to do so.

But if by any chance, he doesn’t show up, the may keep the bail and issue a warrant for his arrest.

How Bail Is Set

Bails are usually set by Judges and because so many people want to get out of jail almost immediately, most jails have standard schedules that specify bail amounts for common crimes.

Someone who is arrested can get out of jail quickly by paying the amount that is set forth in the bail schedule.

If the suspect can’t come up or afford such a money, he can ask a judge to lower it and it’ll be lowered depending on the state’s procedures.

The 8th amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires that bail shouldn’t cost too much. This means that bail should not be used as the primary money-making tool for the government.

It should also not be used as a punishment to the crime suspect. The goal of jail is to allow the arrested to remain free until convicted of a crime and at the same makes sure he appears before the judge in the court of law.

Conditions of Bail:

The following are the conditions of bail:

  • A waiver of payment on the condition that the defendant appear in court at the required time.
  • A bond
  • A property that is equivalent to the full amount of bail
  • Cash or check

So in the nutshell if you want to be bailed out of jail be very careful not to brake the conditions of bail because it might lead to unfruitful results.

These conditions are kept in place so that bail out will be as affordable and humanitarian as possible.

Although there are some dark sides into bailing out but that’s not what we’ll be discussing this time.

That’s why our goal is ensue that we bail out as many as we can every year.  And to achieve this goal we need your help .

One thing you can do to support is to stay out of trouble and donate. Why we say you should stay out trouble as much as you can is because if you don’t, you’ll become a liability to use and the money that should have been used on someone else will be used to be bail you out.

So again, please stay out of trouble and be law abiding.

That said, bail out is one of the most beautiful arrangements in our constitution and will always be.

Thanks to the U.S government and many agencies for helping out in making sure our project gets the light it deserves.

Thanks for reading this article in its entirety.

Stay safe!

 
by Voss Studler on Trial

Plead or Go to Trial: Who Decides?

Criminal lawyers can offer guidance, however, defendants have a definitive option to settle on the vast majority of the significant choices identifying with their case, with not many exemptions.

At the point when legal counselors and respondents can’t concur about an issue as central as whether to go to preliminary, it’s ordinarily the litigant’s craving that wins.

Accepting that a respondent’s choice is neither dishonest nor unlawful (“My choice is that you should knock off the indictment witness”), the legal advisor is the litigant’s operator and should either do the litigant’s choice or persuade the appointed authority to let him pull back from the case.

Be that as it may, litigants ought not unshakably reject their lawyers’ recommendation. Respondents ought to pose inquiries to ensure that they comprehend the guidance and why the legal counselors believe it’s to their greatest advantage before settling on a choice.

Conveying Plea Bargains

Like the choice about whether to go to preliminary, litigants are qualified for conclude whether to offer or acknowledge request deals. To implement this right, guard lawyers are morally required to:

hand-off their customer’s proposal to argue to the investigator, and

transfer the examiner’s proposal to acknowledge a specific request to their customer.

It doesn’t make a difference if the safeguard lawyer accepts that the respondent’s offer won’t be acknowledged or the investigator’s offer is inadmissible.

Concluding Whether to Plead

Prior to settling on a significant choice, a respondent is qualified for recognize what options are sensibly accessible and, to the extent can be anticipated, the imaginable outcomes of each. For instance, accept that the litigant is accused of ambush with a lethal weapon. The guard lawyer tells the respondent, “The investigator is eager to acknowledge a blameworthy request to basic ambush and suggest a sentence of a half year in province prison and a fine of $500. The choice is yours—what would you like to do?”

The respondent’s reaction ought to be something like, “How about we see what my choices are, and attempt to make sense of the imaginable results of every one.” Here, the litigant and the lawyer ought to promptly recognize at any rate three potential alternatives:

  • confess now
  • concede later, or
  • decline to concede and go to preliminary.

Prior to settling on a choice, the litigant and lawyer ought to examine the feasible results of every alternative. For instance, the litigant may pose inquiries, for example,

“Is there a possibility that I’ll show signs of improvement bargain in the event that I hold up until nearer to the preliminary to concede?”

“What sentence am I prone to get in the event that I go to preliminary and I’m indicted for ambush with a destructive weapon?”

“I’m attempting to find a new line of work. Do you figure a conviction for ambush with a dangerous weapon will look more terrible than one for plain attack?”

Respondents ought not depend on having ideal data about the reasonable results of every alternative. For example, a guard lawyer may need to react to the second inquiry above by saying, “It’s extremely difficult to foresee what sentence you’ll get in case you’re indicted for attack with a savage weapon. The adjudicator to whom we’ve been alloted is truly capricious, and a great deal will rely upon the suggestion in the probation report that will be set up after you enter your request.”

In any case, the lawyer ought to give however much data as could reasonably be expected on the conceivable outcomes of every accessible choice, so the litigant can settle on the best choice the situation being what it is. Lawyers have an expert commitment to offer sincere guidance: their best proficient judgment, not just what respondents need to hear.

Not Following Your Lawyer’s Advice: Can the Lawyer Withdraw?

At times, attorneys and litigants have such unequivocally contradicting sees that the legal advisor can’t adequately do the respondent’s ideal methodology.

In such a circumstance, the lawyer may look to pull back as the respondent’s insight, or the litigant may try to have the lawyer supplanted. Regardless of whether this will be allowed in either case relies upon whether the investigator will be preferential or the procedures will be pointlessly deferred or upset.