There are people sent to jail for having a joint on them, but can't afford the $500 bail and have to spend MONTHS in jail.
Excellent post with lots of good points, but despite popular belief, I don’t believe that your example happens very often, anymore. Maybe at one point, but not really in the past 10-15-20 yrs.
For one thing, most states have decriminalized MJ significantly, but even if they haven’t, there’s still a personal use limitation that is normally hovering around at least an ounce (about 28g), and in certain states like Ohio, you can have almost 1/4 lb before there’s any talk of intent to deliver. The personal use charges for weed are either low level misdemeanors or even summary offenses/tickets, depending upon where you were arrested.
In these cases, even with a high sentencing score for previous crimes, the bond is almost always set at R.O.R./no bond needed, and in the rare cases where this is a small bond like the 500 dollar example given, you can often pay a bondsman 10% to secure the bail for you. Even in the worst case scenario where the defendant doesn’t have any resources whatsoever, they’d be released within weeks at the next step/hearing in the process. Here in PA, you are initially arraigned shortly after arrest, but at that time you’re given a date for the preliminary hearing, which takes place about 10-14 days later. At that point, your bond is often reduced if you’ve remained incarcerated for that 2 week time period, and even if it’s postponed by the prosecution, your public defender would certainly ask for a bond reduction. There aren’t going to be many cases where someone remains locked up for more than a maximum of a week or so when their charge is for nothing more than possessing a joint. Resources are too limited.
Now, I think there are plenty of instances where someone gets caught with as little as a joint and are incarcerated if they’re on probation where they violate, which is certainly an issue, but that’s a different discussion altogether. I think the high majority of that 52% number that you cited is for intent to deliver, actual delivery charges and heavier weight arrests.
As screwed up as the CJ system is, I think we’ve made some good progress with limiting the low level, non-violent offenders, particularly with small amount of marijuana charges. Not meaning to get on a soap box or nitpick your post, which makes some excellent points, but I hear the “we’re locking people up for simply having a joint” argument and it’s just an incorrect popular opinion. If you’re locked up for anything under an ounce of weed, you’re either getting out soon, or there’s more information to your case.
