New Poll Shows Florida Voters Oppose Using Tax Money for Bail

• March 18, 2011
• by Collateral Staff
• In the News

[caption id="attachment_2687" align="alignleft" width="243" caption="Florida voters oppose pre-trial release in many cases, according to a recent poll."][/caption]

Bail Works for Florida, Inc., a Florida non-profit established to limit the threat of pre-trial release programs, recently spread word of a new poll showing that Florida voters oppose using tax-payer money for bail. The e-mail from Bail Works for Florida is below:

Dear Agents,

A new poll, conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research, was released by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the nation's largest nonpartisan individual membership association of state legislators, with nearly 2,000 state legislators across the nation and more than 100 alumni members in Congress. The poll shows strong support for putting limits on who is eligible for government-funded pretrial release from jail. It is clear from these findings that the public is tired of footing the bill for those who can afford to secure their own release.

Please share this with friends and colleagues.

• 71 percent opposed using tax dollars to bail criminals out of jail.

• 78 percent felt criminal defendants who have failed to appear in court on a previous offense should not be allowed to be released from jail using tax dollars.

• 75 percent felt that if a criminal defendant can afford to pay their own bail for release from jail, they should not be allowed to be released from jail using tax dollars.

• Support for these measures cuts across party lines with 79 percent of Republicans, 65 percent of Democrats, and 67 percent of Independents opposing the use of taxpayer dollars to bail non-indigent offenders out of jail.

Let your elected officials know you expect them to use your limited tax dollars more wisely.

To read the original press release about the poll from the American Legislative Exchange Council, click here.