In the United States, you’re considered innocent until you’ve been proven guilty in court. I should probably specify that you have to be proven guilty in a court of law and not just in the court of public opinion.
About the right to bail before trial
Since there’s a presumption of innocence, people who were and are waiting for trial have a right to be released on bail. If you think about it, it makes sense. It’s not really fair to lock someone up and have them lose their jobs, miss family events, and lose their freedom if they haven’t been convicted of anything yet.
What exactly is bail?
Bail can be in the form of money, property, or a promise that you’ll appear for your court dates.
The right to bail isn’t absolute, which means that there are certain situations where bail may not be offered. This usually happens in cases involving serious charges like murder or when the defendant looks like they’re at a high risk of leaving the country or may be a danger to the public. Which brings us to the Capitol Riot defendants.
Even the Capitol Riot defendants have the right to bail
Some people think that since the Capitol Riot defendants have been accused of gaining entry to one of the seats of government by force,1 they shouldn’t be eligible for release. In March, the DC Circuit ruled that the specific role a particular defendant was alleged to have taken in the Capitol Riot had to be considered before a court could deny pretrial release. On Wednesday, the circuit specified that a defendant didn’t have to take a violent or destructive role in the riot for a court to decide that they pose an ongoing threat to the public and should be denied bail.
Key Takeaways:
- People who have been accused of a crime but haven’t been convicted have a right to be free until they’ve been convicted.
- In certain circumstances, you may be considered too much of a danger to the public or too much of a flight risk to be released on bail.
- Others would say that the defendants are being accused of an attempt at a violent insurrection, but I’m not touching that argument with a ten-foot pole. ↩
