At last count, there were 47,000 Philadelphia fugitives on the loose, says the Philadelphia Inquirer in the third of a series on problems in the city's court system. In a crisis that has been brewing for decades, defendants are thumbing their noses at judges and victims, given a free pass by the system's ineffectual bail program - and skipping court in huge numbers. Deputy District Attorney John Delaney Jr., one of the city's top prosecutors, says, “The bail system is a complete cartoon.“
When defendants skip court, old victims are victimized again and fresh ones are created as fugitives commit more crimes. For some fugitives, ducking out on court is a tactical step that wears down witnesses and helps set the stage for the eventual collapse of their cases. “You think you're going to jail, you just run,“ said a convicted robber. “They catch you a year or two later, the case falls apart. Any witness they have, they don't have time for it. They got a life. [] They just don't want the hassle. That's a known fact.“ The bail system is deeply flawed. Under the city's government-run 10 percent “deposit bail“ program, thousands of accused criminals are blowing off court - and officials have abdicated the job of demanding the remaining bail they owe. Fugitives owe taxpayers a whopping $1 billion in forfeited bail.
Posted by Elishia Windfohr
Thursday, December 17, 2009 12:51
That 1 Billion dollars is a huge sum to owe the court system. But we have to remember just because someone is accused of a crime does not make them a criminal and thats why we have Bail. if you look at the stats there is more and more bail being written every year. So we either have an increase of crime due to the hard times or the bail bondsmans are writing so much bail they can’t keep track of all the people their paid to babysit. I think there needs to be a better more affective system in place. Unless you have a serious reason, you should not miss court. nice article, who would think a billion would be owed to the court system.
Elishia Windfohr