Federal Judge Rules Against Dallas County Bail Practices

A U.S. district judge said Dallas could not impose pre-set bail amounts on poor defendants without individual consideration.

Taking a cue from the rulings on Harris County’s bail-setting practices, a U.S. district judge in Dallas issued a temporary order Thursday evening saying the county’s post-arrest procedures routinely violate inmates’ constitutional rights. The judge gave the county 30 days to change its ways.

U.S. District Judge David Godbey in Dallas said that the county has to stop the practice of imposing pre-set bail bond amounts, which often keep poor defendants locked up for days or weeks while letting wealthier ones go free, without individual consideration if arrestees claim they can't afford it. He sided with the plaintiffs’ allegation that the county uses “wealth-based detention.”

“Wealthy arrestees — regardless of the crime they are accused of — who are offered secured bail can pay the requested amount and leave,” Godbey wrote. “Indigent arrestees in the same position cannot.”

Bail is a legal mechanism to ensure defendants show up to court hearings. Most jurisdictions in Texas and the country, including Dallas, rely primarily on a money bail system, where defendants can pay a bond amount set by a fixed schedule for their release. If they can't pay, they're often stuck in jail. (Texas Tribune, September 20, 2018)
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On April 28, 2018 we asked the question: What If We Ended the Injustice of Bail?  And, on September 15, 2018 we discussed how: Oregon's Suspension of Driver's Licenses for Traffic Fines 'Punishes the Poor'.

Whether we want to believe it or not, the rich and the poor are treated differently under the law. The rich can afford lawyers to defend their interests, while the poor are left with what ever public defender is available. (Public defenders may be very competent and professional, but they are often overburdened by their case load, lack resources, and are unable to invest the same amount of time in a case that a highly paid private law firm could.) The rich can post bail and go home, the poor cannot always do so, and if they go to a bail bond company they lose 10% of the bail to the bail bond company, regardless of the outcome of the case. The rich may be able to pay a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars in fines and not notice it, the same fine for the poor may be something that they could never pay.

Of course, this doesn't mean that if you are poor that there should be no consequences if you commit a crime. But until a person is convicted of that crime we hold that he or she is innocent. High bail amounts, suspensions, and punitive administrative actions, are all a concern - all an injustice that we should correct.