Catch and release
Los Angeles police recently arrested 14 suspects in connection with 11 "smash and grab" robberies in the city in late November – but all 14 suspects are back on the street, the city’s police chief says.
The reason? The state of California’s "zero bail" policy, Chief Michel Moore told reporters at a Thursday evening news conference, according to FOX 11 of Los Angeles.
"All the suspects taken into custody are out of custody, either as a result of one juvenile, or the others as a result of bailing out or zero-bail criteria," Moore said.
Liberal Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, who backs ending bail for many crimes, insisted that smash-and-grab offenders would be held accountable, The Associated Press reported.
"Our office has been collaborating with multiple law enforcement agencies and once all the evidence has been gathered, we will review the cases to determine what criminal charges should be filed," Alex Bastian, special adviser to Gascón, said in a statement. "These brazen acts hurt all of us: retailers, employees and customers alike."
Back in March, the California Supreme Court ruled that judges in the state must consider a suspect’s ability to pay when setting bail prices – in effect allowing indigent defendants to go free, pending further legal action, unless they are deemed too dangerous, according to the AP.
The court’s decision came despite California voters’ November 2020 rejection of a proposed end to the state’s cash-bail system, the AP reported.
Since then, the ramifications of "zero bail" have come up in numerous cases.
