美国减少审前羁押最新举措——保释制度改革

Bail Reform: Latest Way to Reduce the Use of Pretrial Detention in the United States of America

审前羁押规模庞大是美国刑事司法体系中的一个严重问题。保释制度在美国的刑事司法体系中具有非常重要的意义,美国宪法禁止对被告人科处过多的保释金,各州宪法亦对保释权有不同的规定,但保释金保释实际上造成大规模审前羁押。美国保释制度专门立法经历了三次大的变化,最新的变化是各州针对保释金保释进行改革,目标是大幅减少审前羁押人数,在方法上是采用循证风险评估基础上的司法裁量。

Mass pretrial detention is a serious problem in the United States of America. Bail plays a significant role in American criminal justice system. The federal constitution forbids excessive bail, while the constitutions of different states have different versions of regulation on bail.Although the argument that bail is a coustitutional right is controversial, it is commonly agreed that bail is a statuary right. However, the cash bail caused the problem of mass incarceration.There are three legislative reforms happened in the USA, and the very recent one which is mainly happening at the state level focuses on the limit of cash bail, the purpose of which is to decrease the number of people in pre-trial detention. Based on the experiences of USA, it is important to make clear the purpose of pre-trial detention, reasonably calculate its cost, and develop evidence-based risk assessment tool.