A famous bounty hunter and his bail bondsman wife discussed the repercussions of bail reform in the United States during an appearance on Newsmax TV on Tuesday.
"Dog the Bounty Hunter," whose real name is Duane Chapman, and his wife Beth, the president of the Professional Bail Agents of the United States, were on "America Talks Live" and said the changes that some states have made to their classification of crimes and the erasure of bonds will have a negative impact across America.
"It's basically destroying any rights that victims have whatsoever. The victim is basically being disregarded in the whole process," Beth Chapman said. "What will happen now is people will go to jail, they'll be fingerprinted and released. With no accountability, no bond posted, nobody chasing them or watching them.
"We're going to shift the financial burden over to the taxpayer. This becomes a taxpayer bond."
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Beth then listed several crimes California has downgraded from felony to misdemeanor status, a list that includes rape of an intoxicated person and bringing a bomb to school. Under the new policy that will go into effect in October 2019, people arrested for misdemeanor crimes in the state will be released without bond. Felonies, meanwhile, will not allow any bond whatsoever.
"What it's gonna do to the state of California is phenomenal," she said. "The cost of this is in the billions of dollars. California's broke. They don't have a billion dollars."
Beth said the changes will lead to "mass incarceration" because of the lack of an option for felony violators to bond out.
Duane Chapman pointed out New Jersey overhauled its bail bond policies in 2017 and the results have been disastrous.
"They are under water," he said. "The man who passed the bill in their state capitol — Assemblyman [Bob] Andrzejczak — came to our convention and said . . . 'I am sorry, this is the mistake of my career, and I'll do anything to fix it.' We're not alleging anything. The proof is in New Jersey."
Beth added she spoke with White House press secretary Sarah Sanders earlier Tuesday, who she said was surprised "catch-and-release was alive and well domestically. They thought they only had a catch-and-release problem with immigration, but now they're finding out that there is quite a bit more to this and people are being released right and left."