Bail—Ancient and Modern

Abstract

T HE subject of criminal bail, which interests, usually, only those accused of crime, and the lawyers who prosecute and defend them, has unexpectedly produced front-page news throughout America.Accused Communists are held in high bail, furnished by their supporters.Bail is fixed for recalcitrant witnesses before courts and Congressional committees.Convicted defendants are granted or refused bail pending their appeals.Some of their lawyers, charged with contempt, must produce bail for themselves.Bail is fixed, revoked and reinstated in successive legal proceedings bewildering to the newspaper reader who tries to keep himself informed about subversive people and their subversive doings.Some of the convicted Communists, after unsuccessful appeals to the Supreme Court, fail to appear to serve their sentences.Thereupon officers of the Civil Rights Congress Bail Fund, which provided the bail monies, are brought into court, refuse to answer questions as to the sources of that fund, and find themselves under the necessity of putting up still more bail to answer charges of contempt of court.The amounts fixed for bail differ widely from defendant to defendant, and from Judge to Judge.An inquiring citizen finds it all hard to follow.