Alabama, Why?

Alabama voters just overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the State Constitution, expanding Aniah’s Law to severely restrict the constitutional right to bail. Originally passed in 2022 to target capital offenses, this new expansion adds solicitation, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and discharging a firearm into an occupied building or vehicle to the list of crimes where an individual can be held indefinitely without bond.

I have a serious issue with placing people who are arrested in custody without the opportunity to bail, with the exception of first degree murder or risks to flee the country.

This law is a complete disruption to the notion of presumed innocence. What happened to "innocent until proven guilty"? By eliminating the secured bail system for broad categories of unproven charges, this measure bypasses judicial discretion and flips the burden of proof. It treats an unverified accusation as a final judgment, locking people down before a single piece of evidence is tested in front of a jury.

By completely ignoring true underwriting, which relies on identifying human anchors and real accountability to guarantee appearance, this creates a massive financial trap for the public. Who will pay for the restitution fees to those found not guilty? The taxpayers. Taxpayers bear the cost to house and feed unconvicted citizens for months or years, and taxpayers foot the bill for civil rights lawsuits when these individuals lose their livelihoods and are ultimately cleared.

This blanket expansion completely undermines due process, and it will never hold up at the Supreme Court level. Don’t allow individual rights to fall by the wayside.