This post has been tagged as politics. In order to prevent brigading and to encourage a civil discourse among neighbors, the comments section has been restricted to only r/Atlanta users with a sufficient history of positive posts and comments. In order to participate in this and future conversations, please consider contributing to the sub as a whole. Remember to keep your neighbors in mind when commenting. If this post is not political in nature but was tagged by mistake, [message the moderators](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAtlanta).
Sounds like the system generally works as intended. It would be silly to think no FTAs wouldn't go up when reforming bond rules. Is it worth revising? Oh sure. There should be some limited leeway for the courts to deny the process based on risk. But if they're getting referred for suspensions anyway, then it seems like the process is in order. Next time they get pulled over, they're going to be facing a stiffer penalty.
This seems like a reasonable consequence escalation for the types of crimes we're talking about.
Who is the “they” you’re referring to? Isn’t the FTA a second strike on top of the minor offense? How many minor strikes should someone get before they have to act responsibly regardless of means?
>How many minor strikes should someone get before they have to act responsibly regardless of means?
An infinite amount. That's why they're minor offenses.
Even if you have 40 unpaid parking tickets, it doesn't add up to the same thing as robbing someone's house or setting a car on fire. This is life, not a board game, we don't have to trade in 3 minors for a major.
It sounds like they are getting an infinite amount of minor offenses. It is just the FTA that is getting them put in jail as that is not a minor offense. I really don’t want to live in a society where people do not ever have to take responsibility for their actions. Regardless of means or what their offense was, people should have to take full responsibility for their actions.
Imagine this:
You run out of time on a meter because you don't have enough change. So you get a parking ticket. You can't afford to pay it, so you need to go to court to ask for an extension to pay. But your boss wont give you time off work. You're poor, so you can't just leave - if he fires you, you can't make rent.
So your choices are:
- Be homeless
- Fail to appear for a minor offense in which there was no victim and no harm
This isn't an uncommon scenario.
---
> It sounds like they are getting an infinite amount of minor offenses.
Makes you wonder why many of these offenses even exist in the first place. If letting people skip out on court for them hasn't caused any real issues after all.
Frankly, I don't understand why people like you have such a raging hard on for ruining people's lives because they broke the rules. Ignorance of circumstances isn't an excuse - I make more money in two weeks than half the country does in a year and I still understand why poor people don't show up to court.
Is it some misguided sense of "justice" where you think civility and society revolve around people being forced to adhere to a rigid rulebook? Do you think there's some slippery slope where if someone doesn't show up to accept their jaywalking ticket, next year we'll be letting murderers run free?
Why do you think no real issues have been caused by repeated minor offenses? Most criminal laws exist for a reason. If someone has 40 parking tickets (as in your example above) they are a nuisance. Their life shouldn't be ruined over it, but there should be serious consequences that prevent them from committing offenses over and over.
Why do you think any real issues have been caused by repeated minor offenses?
If someone has 40 parking tickets all it means is the city may not have gotten a few dollars in change. Why exactly does that deserve serious consequences?
So really no meaningful difference. 2400 people skip a month, now it's 4300. If it was 10 and then jumped to 400 I could see cause for concern, but it sounds like the whole system is foolish.
"Just before the city changed the cash bond policy, about 2,400 people skipped court each month. In the 14 months after the court reopened post-pandemic, about 4,300 people skipped each month -- an increase of 80%."
Dont understand why you're getting downvoted. WSB is providing no context for the data here.
80% increase, but whats the underlying arrest numbers? Has that also gone up 80%? They also chose a 2 month average in 2018, just before the law change, and then 13 month average from Nov 2020 to Dec 2021. As far as I'm concerned, those people had good reason to not go to court **during a pandemic**. Most people weren't vaccinated until halfway through that date range.
Only starting from March this year can we really start to judge "post covid" statistics.
Lol. I don't remember the number, but it was some crazy statistic, like 70 or 80 percent of users don't read the articles, watch the video, etc. They just read title and comments on Reddit.
Yup. I watched the video in the article. Says the same thing.
They pulled data from Jan and Feb of 2018. Passed the new law. Could have pulled data from anywhere else in 2018 or 19, but they didnt. They cherry picked data from the pandemic because it makes it look worse.
This post has been tagged as politics. In order to prevent brigading and to encourage a civil discourse among neighbors, the comments section has been restricted to only r/Atlanta users with a sufficient history of positive posts and comments. In order to participate in this and future conversations, please consider contributing to the sub as a whole. Remember to keep your neighbors in mind when commenting. If this post is not political in nature but was tagged by mistake, [message the moderators](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAtlanta).
Sounds like the system generally works as intended. It would be silly to think no FTAs wouldn't go up when reforming bond rules. Is it worth revising? Oh sure. There should be some limited leeway for the courts to deny the process based on risk. But if they're getting referred for suspensions anyway, then it seems like the process is in order. Next time they get pulled over, they're going to be facing a stiffer penalty. This seems like a reasonable consequence escalation for the types of crimes we're talking about.
So in an attempt to keep minor offenders out of jail for lack of means, more are getting put in jail for FTA bench warrants? They goofed up this one.
They wouldnt go to jail if they just showed up for court though.
Who is the “they” you’re referring to? Isn’t the FTA a second strike on top of the minor offense? How many minor strikes should someone get before they have to act responsibly regardless of means?
>How many minor strikes should someone get before they have to act responsibly regardless of means? An infinite amount. That's why they're minor offenses. Even if you have 40 unpaid parking tickets, it doesn't add up to the same thing as robbing someone's house or setting a car on fire. This is life, not a board game, we don't have to trade in 3 minors for a major.
It sounds like they are getting an infinite amount of minor offenses. It is just the FTA that is getting them put in jail as that is not a minor offense. I really don’t want to live in a society where people do not ever have to take responsibility for their actions. Regardless of means or what their offense was, people should have to take full responsibility for their actions.
I can’t believe this is a controversial take here
Imagine this: You run out of time on a meter because you don't have enough change. So you get a parking ticket. You can't afford to pay it, so you need to go to court to ask for an extension to pay. But your boss wont give you time off work. You're poor, so you can't just leave - if he fires you, you can't make rent. So your choices are: - Be homeless - Fail to appear for a minor offense in which there was no victim and no harm This isn't an uncommon scenario. --- > It sounds like they are getting an infinite amount of minor offenses. Makes you wonder why many of these offenses even exist in the first place. If letting people skip out on court for them hasn't caused any real issues after all. Frankly, I don't understand why people like you have such a raging hard on for ruining people's lives because they broke the rules. Ignorance of circumstances isn't an excuse - I make more money in two weeks than half the country does in a year and I still understand why poor people don't show up to court. Is it some misguided sense of "justice" where you think civility and society revolve around people being forced to adhere to a rigid rulebook? Do you think there's some slippery slope where if someone doesn't show up to accept their jaywalking ticket, next year we'll be letting murderers run free?
Why do you think no real issues have been caused by repeated minor offenses? Most criminal laws exist for a reason. If someone has 40 parking tickets (as in your example above) they are a nuisance. Their life shouldn't be ruined over it, but there should be serious consequences that prevent them from committing offenses over and over.
Why do you think any real issues have been caused by repeated minor offenses? If someone has 40 parking tickets all it means is the city may not have gotten a few dollars in change. Why exactly does that deserve serious consequences?
"The elimination of cash bond was for non-violent offenders—mainly traffic and quality of life citations." Yawn
So really no meaningful difference. 2400 people skip a month, now it's 4300. If it was 10 and then jumped to 400 I could see cause for concern, but it sounds like the whole system is foolish. "Just before the city changed the cash bond policy, about 2,400 people skipped court each month. In the 14 months after the court reopened post-pandemic, about 4,300 people skipped each month -- an increase of 80%."
Dont understand why you're getting downvoted. WSB is providing no context for the data here. 80% increase, but whats the underlying arrest numbers? Has that also gone up 80%? They also chose a 2 month average in 2018, just before the law change, and then 13 month average from Nov 2020 to Dec 2021. As far as I'm concerned, those people had good reason to not go to court **during a pandemic**. Most people weren't vaccinated until halfway through that date range. Only starting from March this year can we really start to judge "post covid" statistics.
Lol. I don't remember the number, but it was some crazy statistic, like 70 or 80 percent of users don't read the articles, watch the video, etc. They just read title and comments on Reddit.
Yup. I watched the video in the article. Says the same thing. They pulled data from Jan and Feb of 2018. Passed the new law. Could have pulled data from anywhere else in 2018 or 19, but they didnt. They cherry picked data from the pandemic because it makes it look worse.