When Stealing a $2 Can of Beer Yields $1,000 of Debt

‘Renewed interest in reforming America’s complicated and controversial approach to bail has broadened over the past few years. A New Jersey law, which took effect on the first day of 2017, has almost completely eliminated the use of cash bail in the state, inspiring the wrath of the bail industry over the summer.
Though reform legislation to largely do away with cash bail in California was temporarily stalled in the state assembly at the end of August, it will be reintroduced next year with the input and support of the state’s influential governor, Jerry Brown. Meanwhile, local bail reformers across the country have taken actions on their own to lessen the blows bail imposes on vulnerable defendants. Bail funds have emerged in cities, including Boston, New York (Brooklyn), Nashville, and Seattle.’
Read more: When Stealing a $2 Can of Beer Yields $1,000 of Debt