Lawmakers are talking about a number of ways to reform the criminal justice system. And, one way is to change how the cash bail system works.
When people are arrested in Virginia, they are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. But what happens before the court date? Many times, people accused of crimes can’t post bail because of the way Virginia law works.
Senator Creigh Deeds is a Democrat from Bath County who says over the last 25 years Virginia has passed a number of laws creating presumptions against letting people out on bail. Deeds says he voted for many of those bills, and he's now trying to undo that damage.
"The reality is until about 1996 or 1997, we didn't have presumptions against bail," Deeds says. "We were governed by the idea that one accused of crime was innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt."
Republican Senator Bryce Reeves of Fredericksburg says many people who are accused of crimes are dangerous, especially in domestic violence situations.
"I can't get in people's heads, and I can't understand why they do some of the things they do but they do it," Reeves explains. "And I think sometimes there's a cooling off period where people have to sit in a jail cell for a little while."
The bill introduced by Senator Deeds passed the Senate on a party live vote. It's now on its way over to the House of Delegates.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
