Use These Apps to Easily Make Collateral Donations
Bond is one of (many) elements of the justice system that disproportionately affects people on low incomes. This is a pressing issue for reform and activism, and two new apps will help you do your part.
The bond is meant to ensure that defendants do not disappear between arrest, indictment, and trial. The defendant pays bail – from several hundred to thousands of dollars, depending on the severity of the crime and the judge’s assessment of the risk of escape – so that he can be released from custody. People who cannot post bail must remain in prison until they are found guilty of a crime. And, of course, people who cannot post bail are often the people for whom missed work and other destabilizing consequences of this pre-trial detention are most harmful.
Bail Bloc is a desktop app from The New Inquiry – it uses some of your computer’s unused computing power to mine a private cryptocurrency (called Monero), which, when exchanged for US dollars, becomes funding for the Bronx Freedom Fund , an organization that pays bail for people accused of misdemeanors.
Instead of making money out of thin air, Appolition is charging you extra change. Just like pennies or savings programs that round your purchases to the nearest dollar and transfer the difference to a savings account, Appolition links your debit card and accepts changes you might not even notice by donating to National Bail Out .
There are many ways to deal with cash collateral – voting for progressive DAs, activism, and large collateral donations – but these apps can help you do your part when you’re not even paying attention.
How Two Apps Are Changing the Game by Donating Money to Low-income People | Bliss