the purpose of bail

     This is your social studies teacher speaking. Unreasonable ( excessive ) bail is unconstitutional, and subverts the entire system of awaiting trial while released on bail. The purpose of requiring bail is to assure the appearance of the accused at his or her trial. There is no other reason to set any amount of bail. If protecting the public from a potentially dangerous criminal is the excuse for multi-million dollar bail, it's worse than ridiculous. A person presumed to be dangerous can be denied bail, and should be. Even though innocent until proved guilty, he or she may await trial behind bars. That is the law, and the reason behind the law. Setting bail at millions of dollars does not alter it. If the voting public decides that the law is unjust, they can petition their representatives to change the law.