Money In Jail Essay

The amount of money we have has a big effect on the kind of life we can live, but should it determine whether or not a person stays in jail due to financial equalities? Money should not be the factor in a person spending a few hours in jail to a few days, or weeks. When it comes to one’s ability to be free or to be with one’s family, sleep in one’s home, or go to work, should money really be the sole decisive factor? It is for most people who can’t afford bail. Whether you are rich or poor it is the only thing that determines whether you are free or incarcerated while you await trial. If Justice is truly blind a person wealth, status, or influences shouldn’t play a part in whether or not you have to stay days in jail. According to Daylin Leach
In Philadelphia, that figure is 65% according to another recent study, 54% of people in New York City’s jails had bail set at $2,500 or lower, but could not pay it). What is makes things worse is many defendants have their charges dropped, or are acquitted outright, but are first required to spend days, weeks, months or more in jail. As we can see the poor suffers more even though the crime committed by a person with wealth is exactly the same outcome is not. Another common problem is that people are coerced into pleading guilty by prosecutors who present them with a choice to either stay in jail for months awaiting trial, or plead guilty right now in exchange for their freedom. The damage done by this unbalances system can have severe consequences for defendants such as, it can cost them their job due to missing work, a guilty plea can make it virtually impossible for them to find work elsewhere, and Beyond that a pretrial incarceration can cost people their homes for not having funds to pay their bills. I believe a system should be in place where both defendants who can pay for bail and those who can’t are put on equal