70 percent of Americans in jail have not been convicted of a crime! END CASH BAIL!

We are talking about several different things here, and it is devious to lump them all together.

"Jail" is, by definition, TEMPORARY. People are in jail because the Court, in the exercise of the judge's discretion, believes that the defendant is a "flight risk," and if not incarcerated he will not show up for trial. Bail is set and if the accused can't come up with TEN PERCENT of the stipulated bail he will go to jail. Many factors are considered: Employment, ties to the community, family situation, etc. If TOO MANY people are being held, the judges should be made aware of how they might relax the criteria, but NOTHING can or should be done to remove the judge's discretion. That is EXACTLY what s/he is getting paid for.

The prescribed sentences for various crimes are set - generally in ranges, and not a specific required time - by the legislature. These are the PEOPLES' REPRESENTATIVES, and, by definition, these ranges represent the will of the people who elected the Representatives in the legislature. On what basis, exactly, does one conclude that The People want something else? It is bullshit.

It is often alleged that "people of color" are over-represented in our nation's prisons. But "people of color" are also over-represented among persons committing violent crimes, according to every statistical analysis ever published. There is no such thing as "mass incarceration." Every defendant is tried according to the evidence adduced against him, and every single defendant faces an individual verdict and sentencing. There is no mass sentencing, and manifestly no mass sentencing based on race or ethnicity.

The ACLU is evil. Take anything they say or advocate with a large grain of salt.
 

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