Marcus, I love you a precious memory.
I love you, my boy. And one of the last
times Marcus Harvin would
hear his grandmother's voice,
I lost my grandmother in 2021.
I went to prison in 2016, however.
In between those times I had
bonds that were set so high
that I could not meet them.
It it was like a few months in
between me getting sentenced
and the conviction coming in.
So I could have had that time home
time to make more memories
with his grandmother.
But the New Haven man is one
of many people who was kept in
jail before his trial for a DUI
crash without fatality because
he couldn't afford to post bond
unsentenced for like 4 months.
I believe it. Because while sitting in Joe.
Because my family couldn't afford that mind.
According to a report by the
US Commission on Civil Rights,
more than 60% of defendants
are jailed pretrial because
they couldn't afford to bond.
This is a conversation that's been talked
about among state leaders and advocates
in Connecticut for many years now.
Alex Tarkov is the executive director of
the Connecticut Sentencing Commission.
They've produced several reports on
free trial justice and bill reform.
Their findings?
Justice system. To get us to
an extent, resource based
criminal justice leaders like Mike
Lawler was one of the leading
people in the effort to end cash
bail in Connecticut in 2017.
There's a lot of people who for whom
the amount of bail is relatively
low that you or I are most people
watching could easily post with a
credit card or if they have a job or
they have some relative who can hire
a bail bonds when they get them out.
But there are people don't have any
access to resources like that at all.
As many end up pleading guilty
just so they can go home,
typically they'll be sitting in jail
for a few months, maybe six months.
And the way they get out is by
going to court and pleading guilty.
But how to change that system
for the better is where policy
and I think we should copy what
New Jersey did, meets politics.
So if it's being misused or people
are being prevented from being let
out of prison and they're stuck,
I think we could have that conversation.
But I think there are certain
crimes and and certain.
Activity that that process needs to
be there to protect our citizens.
In 2014, New Jersey voted to amend
a state constitutional amendment.
This largely ended cash bail and
transitioned the state to a risk
based pretrial system. In 2017,
what we've seen is dramatic
decreases in the jail population,
the pretrial jail population,
and that has not come at the price
of people showing up in court.
People are actually showing
up in court at higher rates.
Now than they ever have,
and it also has not come at
the expense of public safety,
violent crimes involving
repeat offenders are prompting
questions about Bell reform.
Just this month, Governor Lamont,
alongside a group of Connecticut
mayors and gun violence advocates,
introduced a new series of
proposals that they say will
reduce violent crime in the state
if this was in place. My
last son would not have been killed.
He would still be
here with us today.
The 10 proposals include actions
like establishing a definition
for a serious firearm offense,
requiring those with a history of past
offenses to post a higher bond percentage,
and strengthening consequences for
criminal possession of a firearm.
Many law enforcement professionals
are very concerned about the fact
that repeat dangerous violent
offenders are able to post bond.
Continually and get out,
even though they're being arrested
on really serious charges,
and I think that's a real problem.
But it has a real solution to give
judges and prosecutors the authority
to to hold people without bail.
To make this happen, Connecticut
states Constitution must be amended
and everyone must be aboard.
A lot of the most significant reforms in
criminal justice have happened because
Democrat and Republican leaders came
together and came up with language
that satisfied both perspectives.
But as of right now,
there is no end insight for cash.
Well, here in Connecticut.
Deandrea Turner, Fox 61,
Connecticut's news station.