Or a step back for the Mecklenburg County criminal justice system? Only time will tell what the new bail bond regime being implemented by the county court system will do to keep violent repeat offenders from cycling through the system.
The simple fact is that I do not trust Mecklenburg’s judge to do the right thing. Ever. Not with their track record. Not even with the new option of setting higher bonds for high risk offenders. Until and unless that actually happens, nothing changes.
Worse, part and parcel of this new bond system involves what only be described as means-testing. The new policy strong implies that those without the “resources” to get out of jail should get lower bonds — all things being equal. Since by definition virtually all the repeat offenders rank low on the “resource” scale, you tell me how this is gonna work.
Still, I’ll give it a chance. It will be easy enough to see if the same old class of violent thugs is laughing at the “new” criminal justice system. Besides, bond is just the front-end. The back-end — the sentences judges impose — is the sore spot with citizen court-watchers. If the new system simply puts bad guys in jail for 30 to 60 days ahead of their trial, then springs them with a probation sentence and time served we have done nothing to actually protect the community.
My guess is that Charlotte’s legal community is well aware of this — as it is that Mecklenburg is saddled with do-nothing, incompetent judges.
