Highlights from our interview with Ken Wood, noted bail attorney and board member of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas
Lone Star Standard: What is the issue with personal bonds in Texas?
Good: In Texas, we have three types of release. We have release on a bail bond, a personal private surety bond, and a cash bond whereas instead of paying a premium and having the bonding company post the bond, you’re posting the total cash amount of the bond with the court.
The third thing that Texas recognizes is a personal bond. Sometimes we call it a personal recognizance bond, but in Texas, it’s really a personal bond. And a personal bond is a simple release mechanism where we’re just requiring your promise that you will return. And before all the reforms we’ve enacted, we had all these activists arguing that we don’t need a private surety bail system. They argue that everybody wants to resolve their case and everybody will come back.
Well, I think we learned very quickly during COVID, that’s not true. We have statistics from Harris County and from California that says release on a personal bond has an 80% failure rate. And criminal cases can’t go forward without the accused. This creates a hold on your case because of that constitutional right. If they don’t come and the case gets put on hold, then we create a bigger and bigger backlog of cases. And that’s what causes problems in the criminal justice system.
Lone Star Standard: What is actually going on with crime? Some say it is down while others are saying it is up.
Good: For the last couple of years, crime has been one of the big issues in the national election discussion. I would say that one party has been arguing that crime is not up. They say, ‘just look at the FBI statistics. They show crime is actually down. So, you’re just really talking about perception versus reality. So, stay the course. Everything is great.’
The problem is, in the last few weeks, the FBI has released new numbers. And, shockingly, they show that crime is up and it’s a little bit more consistent with all the other federal agencies that monitor crime. The CDC monitors homicides. They show that’s up 20%. The DOJ does an annual survey that they’ve been doing for decades and it shows crimes up substantially. We aren’t even talking about car theft statistics because I think they’re the most accurate because insurance companies will not pay off a claim for a carjack or theft of a vehicle without a police report. And those statistics show that car thefts are up dramatically. So, what I would say is the only thing that one party has pointed to to support their argument that crime is down is the older FBI statistics.
That’s been for the last 2 or 3 years. Now, that’s been blown out of the water. And so the problem is now they just want to change the subject. You’re not hearing anything from the left on crime right now.
Lone Star Standard: What problems are we seeing with the bail system in Texas?
Good: I think a personal bond should be limited in their use to begin with because of the high failure to appear. But I would say let’s change our example. Now, judges are required to review criminal histories before setting bail. And so now when somebody is arrested, if they have a substantial criminal history, they have been arrested six times in the last two years, the judge takes that into consideration and the judge sets a higher bond. Now, it’s one that a person can’t afford. Some may say the problem is that the person is in jail because they can’t afford the bond. Well no, they are in jail because of their criminal history.
We have people in Harris County that would argue you can’t set bail at an amount they can’t afford even though the Fifth Circuit has rejected that argument, they still are trying to push that as a narrative in Harris County. ‘We can’t set bail at an amount they can’t afford.’
This is why we have people being released 17 times, not because we can’t hold them accountable. You absolutely can. And that’s the purpose of bail. If they can’t perform their promise to return, to answer the criminal charges, you can hold them accountable for doing that as well. And that’s what is happening. Politics is preventing that in certain areas. Travis County is one of them. Harris County is another.
Lone Star Standard: How do District Attorneys not prosecuting certain crimes impact the crime rates?
Good: I think both because we’re starting to see a large number of unresolved crimes which then pushes up the number of crimes that are not reported because the public doesn’t believe that anything will be done.
There’s a great story about the difference between one county over another. The Montgomery County Police Department or County Sheriff’s department posted a story on Facebook about somebody they arrested involved in catalytic converter theft when Harris County took the position that it’s a low-level crime, even though career criminals figure out ways to make thousands of dollars off of one catalytic converter. Harris County said it’s just a low-level crime so we don’t want to prosecute any more. Two guys were arrested for catalytic converter theft and they were taking them to jail. The two guys were like, ‘wait a minute, this isn’t the way to Harris County Jail.’ And the officers said, ‘oh no, you slipped over into Montgomery County and we arrested you here and we prosecute this crime in Montgomery County. And, so you’re going to the Montgomery County Jail.’ And the guys were very upset.
Now there’s a billboard on the county line between Harris and Montgomery County that says ‘This is Montgomery County. We support law enforcement and we prosecute crimes.’
Ken W. Good is a noted bail attorney and board member of the Professional Bondsmen of Texas, and who has worked closely with lawmakers, argued cases before the Supreme Court of Texas among others. He is the author of Good’s on Bail. Ken joins the show to discuss the recent correction in crime statistics, crime trends in Texas, the bail system in Texas, and efforts in the next legislative session.
This interview transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Listen to the full discussion here: https://texas-talks.simplecast.com/episodes/ep-42-ken-good
