老澳门开奖结果

AUGUSTA 鈥� A major bail reform bill, LD 1703, will move onto the House floor after receiving a majority vote (10 - 2) from the Judiciary Committee this morning. LD 1703, sponsored by Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross (Portland), would eliminate cash bail for most Class E misdemeanors. These include the lowest level offenses such as drinking in public and criminal trespass.

The bill would also clarify rules for bail commissioners, judges and prosecutors to set bail and impose bail conditions. Among the changes, judicial officers would be required to consider how imposing bail would affect a person鈥檚 employment, primary caregiving responsibilities and access to medical care.

鈥淐ash bail is one of the most unfair parts of our criminal system,鈥� said Rep. Talbot Ross. 鈥淚t creates two systems of justice: one for the wealthy, and one for everyone else. I鈥檓 grateful to my colleagues for taking this important step toward ending wealth-based discrimination in our legal system.鈥�

Studies have found that defendants who can鈥檛 afford bail are to be sentenced to longer jail or prison time. They are also to take plea deals and plead guilty to crimes they did not commit. The practice of unaffordable cash bail disproportionately affects people experiencing homelessness, people of color and low-income people.

鈥淛ustice should not depend on how much money a person has,鈥� said Meagan Sway, policy director at the 老澳门开奖结果 of Maine. 鈥淵et our broken bail system punishes poor Mainers with jail time even before they have had a chance to defend themselves in court. LD 1703 is an important step toward ensuring that everyone is treated equally before the law.鈥�

The of people (60 鈥� 80 percent) in Maine jails are there awaiting trial, and the of arrests every year are for misdemeanors. A 2015 survey of five jails by the Maine Judicial Branch the average cash bail for Class E offenses was $722 and the average length of pretrial detention for Class E offenses was about a month (see Appendix C).