The purpose of bail is to secure a defendant’s attendance in court. Not to raise funds for the state or to collect pre-paid fines. The counties and judges that are utilizing cash bail are simply wrong. Defendants on cash bail have a much higher rate of missing court, becoming fugitives with warrants, likely to commit crimes. In many cases, they cannot get jobs, collect unemployment or other benefits. If these fugitives are arrested in other jurisdictions, they have to be transported back to the county and state where the warrant was issued, all at the cost of the taxpayer.
