Richmond, VA, December, 2015 – Dan Barto, a Richmond area bail bondsman, has published a book questioning some of Virginia’s established and accepted criminal justice laws and procedures. It explores a number of heavy and light subjects of the Commonwealth’s policies: from detailing the drawbacks of pretrial services, to attempting to resolve if Chesterfield really deserves the moniker “Arrest-A-Field”, to providing the negative impact of suspending people’s driver’s licenses for the inability to pay fees and fines, You Arrested Me for What credibly argues against some of Virginia’s established criminal justice policies which many deem as simply unjust.
For example, when someone is arrested, depending on charge and circumstances, he or she may be immediately placed on a probationary punishment while awaiting trial. This is done through the local pretrial services agency. It may involve routinely checking in with a pretrial services agent, submitting to drug testing, or attending various classes such as anger management. Now suppose the defendant’s case is dismissed or is resolved with a not-guilty verdict. That person was punished for simply being arrested. This practice seems to completely contradict the ‘defendant is innocent until proven guilty’ principle.
Most books written by bail bondsmen are comprised of their bail bonding exploits; dog-the-bounty-hunter type stories. While this book is peppered with entertaining anecdotes of Barto’s bail bonding experiences, these are used primarily for illustrative purposes. The arguments put forth are well documented with end-notes and presented in an engaging fashion.
Dan Barto, owner of http://www.aarrowbailbonds.com, has been writing bail bonds in Central Virginia for almost five years. Now known as simply ‘The Bondsman’ (http://www.thebondsmanVA.com), he has documented what he’s observed to be some of Virginia’s most obvious and egregious criminal justice practices and challenged them in hopes to spark a discussion about these laws to get them changed.
Richmond, VA, December, 2015 – Dan Barto, a Richmond area bail bondsman, has published a book questioning some of Virginia’s established and accepted criminal justice laws and procedures. It explores a number of heavy and light subjects of the Commonwealth’s policies: from detailing the drawbacks of pretrial services, to attempting to resolve if Chesterfield really deserves the moniker “Arrest-A-Field”, to providing the negative impact of suspending people’s driver’s licenses for the inability to pay fees and fines, You Arrested Me for What credibly argues against some of Virginia’s established criminal justice policies which many deem as simply unjust.
For example, when someone is arrested, depending on charge and circumstances, he or she may be immediately placed on a probationary punishment while awaiting trial. This is done through the local pretrial services agency. It may involve routinely checking in with a pretrial services agent, submitting to drug testing, or attending various classes such as anger management. Now suppose the defendant’s case is dismissed or is resolved with a not-guilty verdict. That person was punished for simply being arrested. This practice seems to completely contradict the ‘defendant is innocent until proven guilty’ principle.
Most books written by bail bondsmen are comprised of their bail bonding exploits; dog-the-bounty-hunter type stories. While this book is peppered with entertaining anecdotes of Barto’s bail bonding experiences, these are used primarily for illustrative purposes. The arguments put forth are well documented with end-notes and presented in an engaging fashion.
Dan Barto, owner of http://www.aarrowbailbonds.com, has been writing bail bonds in Central Virginia for almost five years. Now known as simply ‘The Bondsman’ (http://www.thebondsmanVA.com), he has documented what he’s observed to be some of Virginia’s most obvious and egregious criminal justice practices and challenged them in hopes to spark a discussion about these laws to get them changed.
I don’t know of a single court or pretrial services agency in this area that requires individuals to attend classes before a case has been adjudicated. Drug testing is fairly common, but is usually reserved for felony cases, cases involving drugs or alcohol, or someone with a criminal history involving the same.
Anyone who does not believe that the scales of justice are tipped by gold is not living in the real world.
If you’re a millionaire, you can pay a fine and keep living your life.
If you are a laborer and are accused of something, you’ll often have no way to pay bail, and end up pleading guilty so you can get out and get back to work.
I have nothing against rich folks, but the wide variance in punishment based on income related factors is terrible