LA Rioters Granted the “Precious Right” to Bail
A municipal court judge in Los Angeles ruled on this day that 2,024 adults arrested in the Watts riot, one of the most serious racial disturbances in the 1960s, had a constitutional right to bail.
Speaking for the defendants, A.L. Wirin, staff attorney for the ACLU of Southern California, argued that “the right to bail is one of the most precious rights” in the U.S. legal system.
The judge agreed, but set higher bail than normal — $3,000 higher than normal — because, he said, “these are not normal times.”
The Watts Riot began on the not night night of August 11, 1965 with a routine traffic stop for drunk driving in the Watts area of Los Angeles. The driver resisted arrest, a crowd gathered and minor acts of violence soon escalated into a major riot. Violence continued for six days, resulting in 43 deaths and $40 million in property destruction. A contingent of 14,000 National Guard troops finally helped to restore order. The Watts Riot marked the first of the “Long Hot Summers” of racial violence.
Learn more about the Watts riot: Gerald Horne, Fire This Time: The Watts Uprising and the 1960s (1995)
Watch a video of the Watts riot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDRWLQ0FO9w
Learn more: John Goldkamp, Two Classes of Accused: A Study of Bail and Detention in American Justice (1979)