Surrendering to Vigilante Justice: Bail Reform, The War on Accountability

by Ken W. Good

The concept of accountability has been ingrained into almost every part of our society.  The examples are numerous -- a child may be put into time-out for misbehaving, a student sent to the principal for a violation of rules, and a driver may be given a ticket as a consequence of speeding.  

Accountability has deep roots across the globe.  Leading the successful campaign for India's independence from Britain, Mahatma Gandhi inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world, once saying "It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one's acts."  In the history of much of the world, accountability has been a central tenet.  But this fundamental precept is changing.

Sadly, a war is underway against accountability in society.  The erosion of this concept can be observed in many areas of day-to-day life, such as in our colleges and universities.  As an example, statistics from the University of North Carolina system between fall 2016 and spring 2018 revealed that 26 percent of students earned either a D, F or W (withdrawal) in mathematics and statistics courses.  The university's response to these disappointing results was simply to lower the standard so more students would pass.  

In the highly-charged area of criminal justice reform, the war on accountability has reached a fever pitch.  A federal lawsuit was filed against Harris County, Texas, attacking the treatment of a group of poor people who did not have an opportunity to ask for a reduction from the county's bail schedule.  However, resolution of the suit had nothing to do with poverty, rather, it requires the release of almost all misdemeanor defendants essentially for free, except for those charged with a handful of misdemeanor crimes.

Under the settlement terms, defendants are released on a $100 personal recognizance (PR) bond and never see a magistrate.  If they commit additional crimes while they are out (provided the charges are not among the select few exempted), they will be released each and every time on a $100 PR bond without ever seeing a judge.  The cost to the defendant would be $20 unless it is waived.

Also, if a defendant misses court, the county has agreed that no action can be taken against him or her until they fail to appear at least three times.

Criminal history is not reviewed, nor is any determination made that the defendant may be a risk to reoffend or not return.  The defendant is just released with no accountability.  The disastrous results have slowed down the criminal justice system so much that the number of pending cases for misdemeanor courts doubled even before the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily shut down the Harris County courts.

The backlog has forced the district attorney to discount punishments by giving out deferred adjudication for more dangerous offenses.  In one case, a defendant violated terms of his deferred probation.  However, no one raised the issue before time expired, so he was not returned to court until he was charged with a new offense: murder.  If the defendant had been held accountable for his actions and a proper motion filed with the court regarding the violations of his deferred probation he would not have been free to take the life of another.

The coronavirus crisis and protests over the horrific death of George Floyd has taken the scrutiny of accountability to a whole new level of indifference.  The systematic release of defendants arrested for crimes during the pandemic provide a snapshot of one possible future for bail reform by looking at what might happen if the rest of the nation were to follow the Harris County model.  The result would be more crime and chaos.  Low-level career criminals have led the way in taking advantage of the system.  One defendant with a long record of convictions went so far as to thank politicians on camera, declaring, "Bail reform, it's lit!"

Meanwhile, the state of New York also attempted this release model at the start of the year and found it to be such a disaster that a majority of the legislature voted to roll it back, even in the midst of the pandemic.

We are now seeing extreme attacks on accountability through calls to defund police departments across the country.  Minneapolis City Council president Lisa Bender made news recently when she stated that calling the police when someone breaks into your home "comes from a place of privilege."  Zealots are making the same type of arguments as bail reform advocates -- that defunding and dismantling the police will somehow make the public safer.  These contentions fly in the face of common sense.

If efforts to defund the police are successful, the next attack on accountability in America would be to get rid of our courts and criminal laws.  Proponents would surely argue that our centuries-old system which is a cornerstone of our country takes unfair advantage of certain segments of our society.  They would contend that as a matter of fairness, and to put everyone on the same footing, it should all be abolished.

Advocates argue that social services would be better equipped to address issues such as mental health and drug use.  But such arguments fail to acknowledge the complexity of dealing with such concerns.  Public mental health issues arise from a continuing cycle of people getting arrested, going on medication, being released, getting off their medication and then getting into trouble again, whereupon the cycle repeats.

Mental health patients usually get back on their medications because of the involvement of the legal system.  Typically, drug users who are arrested and face the threat of criminal prosecution will go to rehab.  If rehab fails, they serve time.  Social workers cannot be expected to be judge and jury, and lack the authority to order someone to take medications or to stop taking illicit drugs when they refuse.

There is a name for these kinds of "reform" efforts and it is anarchy.  Put another way, a nation without laws is not a country.  Accountability is the battlefront of a war taking place across our shores at this moment.  The stakes are sky-high and if we care about our future, we must not be complacent.

As Gandhi pointed out many years ago, we cannot escape the consequences of our actions.  We are living in a perilous time in which we must decide whether to continue to move toward building a society based upon accountability or turn into a society of vigilantes -- some fighting for more power, but most fighting for sheer survival.  The choice will decide whether we continue as a nation.