According to a poll by The National Desk that is circulating on local Tennessee news websites, 97 percent of respondents said they believe that violent alleged criminals should not be released back onto the streets without bail.
The poll, which is running on WTCV in Chattanooga and WZTV in Nashville, asks respondents, “Do you think those arrested for violent crimes should be released without bail?”
At press time, the poll had more than 10,700 respondents, and 97 percent of them said that violent alleged criminals should not be released from jail without bail.
The issue of bail for violent criminals has been a hot topic of debate for years, but most recently resurfaced when two illegal aliens who allegedly assaulted NYPD officers near Times Square last weekend were released immediately without bail.
One of the migrants made an obscene gesture as he walked free, which quickly spread across the internet.
“Message to America from one of the illegal migrants who assaulted NYPD officers, walked free with no bail & heads back to a shelter funded by taxpayers,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said on X, attaching the photo.
Fox News’ Bill Melugin, who covers the border crisis, reported Monday that the same migrants had been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at a Greyhound bus station in Phoenix, Arizona.
In Tennessee, lawmakers are attempting to pass a constitutional amendment via a public referendum that “will expand the judicial branch’s flexibility to hold without bail for violent criminals.”
As reported by The Tennessee Star:
The amendment would especially focus on withholding particularly heinous crimes that may not result in death, and the spokesman highlighted such crimes as the rape of a child, especially aggravated kidnapping, and 2nd degree murder.
It would also require judges to explain their reasons for denying or allowing bail, which [House Speaker Cameron] Sexton’s office said will provide added transparency to the state’s judicial system.
Cameron’s office also provided five cases where the ability to deny bail could have kept violent criminals off the streets before they committed additional crimes.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X / Twitter.
