30 most vicious John Oliver take downs
By Jeremy Dick
17. John Oliver bashes the horrible American bail system
Even if you haven’t been to prison, you know what bail is. Nearly every movie or TV show which has shown someone wind up in a court room has mentioned bail. The idea is that if a non-violent offender can come up with a certain amount of money set by a judge, they can await their trouble from the comfort of their own homes. If they can’t pay, then they’ll need to rot in jail until their court date.
John Oliver took to Last Week Tonight to explain why we desperately need to overhaul this unfair system. For a horrifying comparison, Oliver mentioned how one poor man was forced to sit in prison for driving on an expired license. Meanwhile, a millionaire murder suspect posted $250,000 bail and proceeded to skip town. What’s wrong with this picture?
Oliver explained how instead of even bothering to try to fix this cruel system, we’ve used it for entertainment. Shows like Dog the Bounty Hunter have done very little to change things when all we’re doing is just watching it and laughing. Unfortunately, it’s a very real problem, and it’s troubling that we’d keep it the way it is just for the sake of reality television.
Next: 16. The Lottery