Compelling Appearance in Court: Administration of Bail in Philadelphia

The right to bail before trial in non-capital cases is guaranteed by constitutional and statutory law.' "This traditional right to freedom before conviction," the Supreme Court has said, "permits the unhampered preparation of a defense, and serves to prevent the infliction of punishment prior to conviction.Unless this right to bail before trial is preserved, the presumption of innocence, secured only after centuries of struggle, would lose its meaning." 2 But the right to bail is not an unqualified right to freedom, for the accused may be required to post such security as will reasonably ensure his appearance in court for trial.Certainty of appearance could be guaranteed only by incarcerating all prisoners, whereas not inflicting punishment until guilt is determined would require the abolition of all pre-trial imprisonment.Reconciliation of this conflict is attempted by "properly striking a balance between the need for a tie to the jurisdiction and the right to freedom from unnecessary restraint."3This study is an examination of how this adjustment is made in the administration of bail in Philadelphia in non-capital cases before conviction.It includes a survey of the methods employed to set bail, determination of the proportion of defendants who do not obtain bail, the comparative treatment of bail and jail defendants and the relative efficacy of different kinds of bail as deterrents against non-appearance at trial.t Instructor at Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School.The cooperation of the many persons who assisted in this study is acknowledged with gratitude.1.U.S. CONST.AMEND.VIII ("Excessive bail shall not be required"); FE.R.Cam .P. 46 (Before conviction "[a] person arrested for an offense not punishable by death shall be admitted to bail").See opinion of Mr. Justice Butler as Circuit Justice for the