Madison County will soon be employing a pretrial risk assessment tool aimed at providing political cover to judges for granting free release to criminal offenders. These “black box” computer programs are supposedly able to predict whether or not an offender is dangerous to the public — taking away the judicial discretion of the court to keep the public safe. Catch & Release programs are now in vogue while crime victims take a back seat. Criminal offenders have never felt so loved.
RELATED: County implementing bail reform for low level offenders
“This is a radical change in people being detained awaiting trial,” Madison Circuit Court Division 4 Judge David Happe said. “We are eliminating cash bonds.”
Madison Circuit Court Division 4 Judge David Happe
What does this mean?
This means no guarantee of appearance for those charged with criminal offenses. Don’t let the Madison County Public Defender’s Office fool you, Level 6 offenders do face jail time, that decision is made later.
“This means a large number of people charged with Level 6 felonies, who are not going to prison anyway, will be eliminated from the jail population,” he said.
Brian Williams, chief of the Madison County Public Defender’s office
Help us tell the courts, thanks but no thanks, you prefer to hold offenders accountable for their actions and not give them a free ride. Madison County will not be a sanctuary city for criminal offenders.
