Bail Reform: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Remember kids, if the penalty is a fine that means it's legal for the rich.

Political adverts on TV - possibly the biggest problem in the US. Illegal in most of the world, completely unregulated in the US. WTF?

I‘m not American. But every time John does one of the justice system pieces I‘m feeling uncontrollable rage and disbelief.

That poor child whose life was destroyed by the accusation of stealing a backpack... legitimately brought tears to my eyes. Everything is so fucked up

When I was 19, I was arrested for being 11 years behind on child support. My bail was set @ $5000, even though I was 19 years old and being accused of being 11 years behind on child support. A week later, when I finally got to see the judge, he released me because it's impossible for a 19-year-old to be 11 years behind on child support, and they had the wrong person.

There is no way the judge even looked at the case when he assigned bail, if he had, he would have seen that they had the wrong person.

"You're charged with a crime, you're guilty... But also presumed innocent."

So, it's like Schrödinger's Cat. You are both guilty and innocent, until someone opens the box, and finds out you died, because you were locked in a box.

As an autistic person, that “yes or no” judge is the type of person who is my worst nightmare. People that don’t say what they actually want and expect you to figure it out, then don’t explain what you did wrong, and then when they finally DO explain it’s as they’re punishing you and it’s already too late to do anything about it.

If you have 3 million people in prison and the streets still aren’t safe, then maybe something else is going on beyond just filling prisons

Remember, you can be the most law abiding citizen in the world until a cop decides you aren't.

Our judicial system is a joke. 4 years ago I was falsely arrested. Had to spend 2 days in jail bc a judge wasn’t available to set my bail. Had to pay $800 for bail to get out. Then pay $3000 for a lawyer to represent me just to have the charges dismissed. To this day. Every time you google my name. I have an arrest photo that shows up on Google for something I didn’t even do. The system is absolutely terrible. That false arrest will follow me for the rest of my live.

The Kalief Browder story is one of the saddest things in life. This actually not only killed him but his mother as well and negativity affected his siblings.

He committed suicide, his mother was not paid the financial windfall from the wrongful conviction (which she deserved) and died from not affording treatment. Then his brother and sister were forced out of their family home. Human beings can be so evil

That judge who raised bail 2k because the girl said “yeah” deserves to be sent to prison for the rest of his life.

If you’ve never been in jail, falsely accused, you cannot imagine the psychological impact. It’s horrific. And permanent.

That “yeah” vs “yes” scenario reminds me a lot of the “I want a lawyer dog” scenario. Where they thought the guy was asking for a dog that was a lawyer, and not legal counsel.

Better to let ten guilty men go free than to have one innocent person suffer. - William Blackstone

"Pleading guilty to something I didn't do just to end the suffering" sounds eerily familiar to describing torture.

When you said Kalief killed himself the night before, I started crying. Watching the clear pain in his voice and on his face was about to break me. God damn. Poor kiddo deserved so much better. And yeah, at 16, he was a kid.

Thank you for mentioning Kalief Browder. His case was heartbreaking he was literally just a kid forgotten in the system and then dismissed.

As someone who was given bail instead of being released on my own recognizance for correcting the judge when he called me a "meth addict" because I was trying to better myself from heroin addiction with Methadone maintenance program (monitored by doctors, daily appts, weekly therapy, etc.), I approve this message.

Here in Scandinavia, they can only jail you if they expect a conviction giving you prison time, if you’re found guilty, the time you’re jailed will be subtracted from prison time - and if you’re found not guilty, the state has to pay you a fairly high compensation, so there’s a high incentive for the state to release people if they can’t get convicted quickly, and if it’s not likely they will get a longer prison sentence!
I don’t think there’s any countries in Europe that uses bail, at least not in the way the US is! Here "bail" is more a set of restrictions, possible confiscating your passport!
US system is just a way to make money!