Statement of Jeffrey Harris, Before the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution, on October 21, 1981, Concerning Bail Reform

• NCJ Number: 80586
• Author(s): J Harris
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 31 pages
• Corporate Author: US Attorney General
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The Justice Department view of and recommended improvements for Senate Bill 1554 (S.1554), a bail reform bill, are presented in this testimony before the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution.

Abstract

In the Justice Department's view, S. 1554 is the kind of comprehensive approach to bail reform that is needed. The bill recognizes the danger a defendant may pose to the community as an appropriate consideration in all release decisions. It also provides, in limited circumstances, for pretrial detention, not only codifying the authority now recognized in case law to detain defendants who pose serious flight risks or may intimidate witnesses and jurors, but also providing for detention of defendants who, if released, are likely to commit further dangerous crimes. S. 1554 abandons the irrational standard presumptively favoring release of convicted persons by adopting a more stringent standard for postconviction release. It requires all defendants to refrain from criminal activity as a condition of release and permits temporary detention of a defendant arrested while on a form of conditional release. The Government is also given statutory authority to appeal release decisions. Recommended revisions in the bill include the deletion of the requirement that the Government demonstrate a 'substantial probability' that defendants committed the crime with which they are charged before pretrial detention may be ordered. A less stringent standard for temporary detention to permit revocation of conditional release is also suggested. Further, it is advocated that the penalties for bail jumping more closely parallel the penalties for the offense with which the defendant was charged when released. Other recommendations require the (1) revocation of release where there is a probable cause finding that the defendant committed an offense while on release, (2) retention of the use of money bond, and (3) provision for a hearing into the source of property offered by the defendant as the means of securing release. Footnotes are provided.