The Dangerous Myth of “Evidence-Based” Bail Reform: How Three Prominent Studies Collapse Under Real-World Scrutiny For years, bail reform advocates have conducted many high-profile studies and reported them as ironclad proof that eliminating or dramatically weakening surety bail is both safe and effective. Three of…
The “Willful Non-Appearance” Trap: How Bail Reform Activists are Eroding Accountability In the push for bail reform and expanded pretrial release, some jurisdictions have quietly rewritten a core enforcement tool: redefining “failure to appear” (FTA) as “willful non-appearance.” What sounds like a minor semantic tweak—adding…
Bail Reform Success Bail Reform Advocates Finally Have Proof That Bail Reform Works in One Jurisdiction…It is Commonly Known as FANTASYLAND! No matter how many times they say it, or how many times they write it, free release on cashless bail will NEVER be as…
Bail Reform Misinformation: Why Searching for the Truth on Bail Reform is Harder Than You Think Understanding Bail Reform Misinformation in the Digital Age The Challenge of Finding Truth Online About Bail Reform In a world of disinformation, misinformation and propaganda, it is extremely hard…
Common Sense Facts for the Cashless Bail Debate: Why Financially Secured Release Through a Bail Bond Works Better Than FREE Release Through Cashless Bail Have you ever noticed that the arguments against using bail bonds in the criminal justice system typically go against common sense?…
The Truth About Zero Bail: It Makes Zero Sense About 3 years ago, the District Attorney out of Yolo County, Jeff Reisig, conducted a simple research project. He wanted to know whether releasing criminal defendants on zero bail, also called cashless bail, was an effective…
How Cashless Bail and Bail Reform Policies Are Leading to Preventative Detention The Unintended Consequences of Pretrial Release Activism When activism overrides collaboration in the criminal justice system, the push for cashless bail and bail reform can backfire, steering policies toward preventative detention. This article…
Educating the Internet Together Bail Reform: Differentiating Between Truth and Propaganda Over the past decade or so, we have seen the online content of the bail reform activists increase substantially. From research studies to articles, these well-funded organizations have inundated the online marketplace with their…
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…
