A massive issue here and likely in many places is that with COVID raging since last March, jury trials have been suspended. And most grand juries as well. That’s a real concern. And the backlog if we reopen courts this March is gonna be crushing. Hard to overstate this issue.

So pretrial release (bond/bail) is hugely important but so is the societal imperative to keep some accused of serious violence in jail before trial. But that trial needs to be ‘speedy’. So what’s speedy in a pandemic? These aren’t hypotheticals. These are our neighbors & our law

That’s also why private for profit jails are an abomination in every single form or fashion. The burden of incarceration MUST fall on the state because it is our burden and not an opportunity to make money. In the pandemic, we want less people in jail. We should always want that

Good lord we have violent criminals in my city & in our country. We’ve kinda accepted a staggering level of gun crime in this country. My colleagues & I focus on those shooters. We want them in jail. But the jails are filled w/ non-violent criminals & so maybe let’s look at that