by Hollis Wormsby, Jr.
Easy Access to Bail Kissing Cousin to No Snitch Policy in Culture of Violence
A couple of weeks ago I talked about the impact of the no snitch policy on the culture of violence that is too present in many of our communities. I appreciate the response to that column from many of you, even those who asked what culture of violence. This week I would add that the kissing cousin to the no snitch policy in the culture of violence is too easy and repeated access to bail.
In Montgomery this week Satarus Smith is charged with shooting a witness who was to testify against him in a murder case while he was out on bond. Key phrase – while he was out on bond for murder. Smith shot the witness in the face but somehow was only charged with second degree assault, intimidating a witness and first degree robbery. Surely he is now being held without bail, you would think, huh? Well actually not. He now has bond set at $225,000, which means if he can cut a deal with a bail bondsman he will be free and clear again. Of course he is not a danger to the community, he has only murdered one man and shot a witness.
Here in Birmingham the man who is alleged to have shot the teen at Railroad Park was released on bond within 24 hours of his arrest. A week later a court had to revoke his bond because he was found to be threatening and intimidating the only witness. Is it any wonder now that the only witness is said to be ready to recant their testimony.
The three boys who did the quintuple killing at Five Points West were out on bail for attempted murder and other charges at the time of the Five Points killings. They had established more than enough of a record to show they were a danger to the community, yet they were free on unsupervised bail at the time of what we hope will be their final heinous crime.
Another point to be made here is that in my opinion bail levels are set in such a way as to place a value on the life of the victim. Murder a police officer, your bail will be a million dollars. Murder a low income African American female and your bail is likely to be 30 to 60 thousand dollars. That is wrong. All life should be valued the same. And if bail should be a million dollars if you kill a police officer it should also be a million dollars if you murder a poor Black woman.
Too many of us still look at bail as a civil right. We hold on to this mentality that we don’t want the man putting our boys in jail and keeping them there. Hello! We have a Black Mayor, a majority Black Council, a Black Police Chief and Black control over almost every element of this City. It is not the Man putting irresponsible people away, it is responsible people who want to live a decent life in this City that should be demanding that attitudes toward bail should be revisited.
Why is it that a meth lab in Hoover will get you bail set at half million dollars, and a murder in Birmingham can have bail as low as thirty thousand dollars? And who benefits from low bail but repeat offenders who seem to care about nothing but themselves?
I have been told that there is a standard bail schedule and that is why bail is so low in Birmingham, but that simply is not true. The standard schedule is suggested for other areas as well but in areas that are serious about reducing or eliminating crime, judges are encouraged to use their discretion to set bonds at levels that will keep criminals off the streets.
There is one corollary thing I have learned as I have looked at this issue over the years. Our jails and prisons are crowded and that is one excuse for releasing violent criminals. But at any given moment I would venture to claim that over 60 percent of the people in our jails and prisons are there for non-violent crimes. You have homeless people who spend months in jail because they cannot pay a fine, while you release a murderer in the community. I also think we need to prioritize who we use our jail space for. First priority should be for people who are a potential threat to the community.
So to summarize three steps that might help reduce the culture of violence would be: attack the no snitch policy; insist on higher bonds and bond restrictions for violent crimes; and prioritize our jail space for violent offenders.
Or at least that’s the way I see it.
