True Left

So, I was reading this article:

https://us.yahoo.com/news/agnes-chow-former-hong-kong-090200653.html

Arrested for alleged national security crimes, Agnes Chow hails from a generation of Hong Kong democracy activists who cut their teeth in politics as teenagers and are now being steadily silenced by China.

The media cameras flashed incessantly as the 23-year-old was led handcuffed from her apartment on Monday evening by police officers with Hong Kong's new national security unit.

She is one of the first opposition politicians to be arrested under Beijing's new security law -- on a charge of "colluding with foreign forces" -- and could face up to life in jail if convicted.

Late Tuesday, she was released on bail.

And it suddenly hit me that the option of bail would not have been available if not for colonialism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bail#History

In the early 17th century, King Charles I ordered noblemen to issue him loans. Those who refused were imprisoned. Five of the prisoners filed a habeas corpus petition arguing that they should not be held indefinitely without trial or bail. In the Petition of Right (1628) Parliament argued that the King had flouted Magna Carta by imprisoning people without just cause.

The Habeas Corpus Act 1679 states, "A Magistrate shall discharge prisoners from their Imprisonment taking their Recognizance, with one or more Surety or Sureties, in any Sum according to the Magistrate's discretion, unless it shall appear that the Party is committed for such Matter or offences for which by law the Prisoner is not bailable."

So we should aim to eliminate bail. On ethical grounds, bail obviously advantages the wealthy, as the poor are less likely to be able to afford bail. There is also room for further discrimination by judges on other counts:

A common criticism of bail in the United States is that a suspect's likelihood of being released is significantly affected by their economic status[61] and systemic racial bias.[62]

A flat absence of bail would at least remove these discrepancies and thus produce fairer treatment overall.

Furthermore, the very notion that a monetary deposit is sufficient collateral for the possibility of the accused escaping encourages the view of people as basically a commodity. A good citizen, in contrast, should consider it a civic duty to voluntarily remain in detention prior to trial in order to simplify state administration. So why should the state pander to the bad citizens (those who lack such dutifulness) by providing an option of bail (but only to those who can afford it.....) in the first place? Thus we see Western inferiority in its understanding of civics once again.