Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires that people charged with a list of serious offenses be held behind bars until they can be arraigned by a court in New Hampshire.

Highlights:

• Amends and makes various amendments governing the standards to and the administration of bail (Sec. 1-7).

• Repeals the establishment of magistrates and makes other amendments to reflect that repeal, including the repeal of an appropriation (Sec. 1-7).

• Requires that people charged with a list of serious offenses be held behind bars until they can be arraigned by a court, eliminating the opportunity to be released by bail commissioners (Sec. 1-7)

• Repeals the newly created magistrate system, in which three attorneys trained and appointed by the judicial branch were allowed to set bail in cases where judges were not available (Sec. 1-7).

• Amends the standard by which people charged with serious offenses can be denied bail from the current standard that requires that there be “clear and convincing evidence” that a person is a danger to themselves or others; the new standard requires only that there be probable cause that the person poses that danger (Sec. 1-7).

• Specifies that the new standard also makes it a rebuttable presumption that a defendant who has failed to appear or violated bail on past charges will do so again, making it easier to hold those defendants without bail too (Sec. 1-7).

• Specifies that the provisions of this bill shall take effect 180 days after passage and approval by the Governor (Sec. 8).

Full Bill Text