Every year the AIA Surety Team conducts a “State of Bail” survey amongst agents. Our goal? To try and better understand how agents are feeling about the industry and its future. This year we had an incredible response from agents. As of this morning, we…
The Hidden Dangers of Bail Reform How Pretrial Risk Assessments Decrease the Effectiveness of Cashless Bail and Pretrial Release Systems In the push for bail reform, pretrial risk assessments have emerged as a supposed solution to eliminate surety/cash bail systems and promote fairer pretrial release…
Understanding Bail Reform Research and Propaganda (Part 1 of 4): Bail Reform and Public Safety: Evidence from 33 Cities – A Critical Review The Brennan Center for Justice Report Released on August 15, 2024, the Brennan Center for Justice’s report, “Bail Reform and Public Safety:…
Why does South Dakota want to Expand Cashless Bail? When you see someone stick their finger in a light socket and get electrocuted, what is your next move? Do you go ahead and stick your finger in the socket too…or do you try and learn…
Bail Reform in Guam: Does “Free Release” and Cashless Bail Really Work? Examining Pretrial Release Claims In my over 20 years in the bail profession, one lesson stands out: when advocates push bail reform, listen closely to what they say—and even more importantly what they…
The Top 5 Bail Stories of 2025 As we approach the end of another trip around the sun, we always like to look back on the year and assess how we did. While 2025 was an up and down year for the bail profession, overall,…
Understanding Bail Reform Research and Propaganda (Extra Credit): SJ Quinney College of Law, University of Utah This next study examines the outcome of the Bail Reform Act of 2017 passing in Illinois. This piece of legislation eliminated the use of any sort of financially secured…
Understanding Bail Reform Research and Propaganda (Part 4 of 4): Harry Frank Guggenheim We have now gone through three studies that have all claimed that bail reform is not connected to any rise in crime. In fact, each of the studies have made the claim…
One thing that you will not hear public sector pretrial advocates discuss is what the public thinks of bail reform. Because no matter how much they believe that there is a need to abolish commercial bail and reform the so called “injustice” of requiring criminal…
As the bail reform advocacy group, Equal Justice Under Law, continues to move across the country searching for ways to challenge the constitutionality of bail schedules with the ultimate goal of eliminating monetary bail, they may have hit a substantial roadblock. According to a press…
