CPCS Editorial: Attacks on Bail Decisions Don’t Tell Full Story

Public officials have been chastising New Bedford judges for their bail decisions – using words like “liberal” and “limited” to describe their tendencies.

Committee for Public Counsel Services leadership felt the need to push back

Randy Gioia, Deputy Chief Counsel of the Public Defender Division for CPCS, wrote an editorial for the New Bedford Standard-Times indicating that public officials are not explaining what bail really is and, in doing so, are confusing the public:

Missing from this media campaign is a degree of nuance — one where trained attorneys explain to the public what bail is in the first place. Judges are forbidden from speaking to the press, and if law enforcement officials actually told the whole story, the public would know that terms like “lenient” and “liberal” are buzzwords used to pave over an otherwise productive conversation.

The purpose of bail is to ensure that a defendant comes to court after they’re released from jail.

Bail is not a form of punishment. It is not society’s way of exacting revenge for the alleged commission of a crime, and there is a very important reason for that — the Constitutional presumption of innocence.

Read the full column here.