Something like 95% of criminal cases are resolved with plea deals and not trials, and legal representation from public defenders has very limited resources.
Cash bail results in many people imprisoned without trial: After arrest, the court requires bail. Poor people can't afford it, so they are jailed until trial, which can be over a year. The impacts go beyond the (very serious) loss of freedom: They lose jobs, their family loses income, dependents (children, elderly) lose caregivers.
Firstly, though I see the concept behind cash bail I don't agree with it. But people has a misconception of the likely result of removing it.
Judges now, don't need or required to use cash bails, they choose to, they can release people without cash bail now. either into the person's own recognizance, or even into the care of others.
If a judge doesn't feel the person is likely to return to their following court date, and they can't leverage financial burden as a means to insure it, they are likely just to forego the process and hold them.
Both the California and US constitutions guarantee a right to a speedy trial, and California criminal code has specific provisions on how quickly trials must begin. Who is holding the California government responsible for this? What an outrage.
Wowzer, right. That is...pretty compelling. And incredibly illegal. Does California not know it doesn't have a right to just incarcerate people for no official reason?
