Cash Bail vs. Surety Bail: Bail Reformers’ Misleading Conflation In a recent article from the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, the author argues that high cash bail is the root cause of rising county jail bills and growing pretrial detention. While the piece…
What is New on the Bail Reform Truth Website If you haven’t already signed up to receive notifications and articles from the Bail Reform Truth Website, we think it is time you did. Over the past 6 months, the site has had close to 10,000…
The Overpromise of Risk Assessments Can a Questionnaire Predict the Future? Common Sense and Now Harvard Says No. Remember back 13 years ago, when the Arnold Foundation (now called Arnold Ventures) was in the middle of a world tour touting its predictive criminal justice algorithm.…
The Top 10 Bail Stats of All Time Part 2 (#5 through #1) We hope that you enjoyed last week’s list of top bail statistics #10 – #6. Understanding these important statistics is essential for anyone looking to successfully debate criminal justice and bail reform…
The Echo Chamber of the Bail Reform Movement “Be a voice, not an echo.” – Albert Einstein When one reads a story about our criminal justice system today, it is often framed as a “debate” on criminal justice or a “debate” on bail reform. While…
The Business of Bail Reform Earlier this year, criminal justice researcher, JL Fullerton, wrote a groundbreaking article series entitled, “The Business of Bail Reform.” Each article in the series focused on a different aspect of the bail reform movement and connects it to the significant…
The Three Most Significant Supreme Court Cases for Bail Bonds Have you ever wondered what role the courts, and the Supreme Court in particular, have played in ensuring the availability and existence of financially secured release in our criminal justice system? Over the past 120…
Part 6: Houston Police Officers’ Union (2022), Harris County Court Watch Pretrial release reform has become one of the most controversial issues in criminal justice policy, with advocates arguing that unsecured release creates a fairer system while critics warn it reduces accountability and increases public…
Part 5: Reisig (2023) – Yolo County’s Zero Bail Study Zero Bail Produced Significantly Higher Rates of Reoffending Compelling Evidence That Financially Secured Surety Bonds Deliver Superior Public Safety Outcomes This study serves as the fifth installment in our “Six Most Significant Bail Studies” and…
Part 4: Dr. Michael Block – The Effectiveness and Cost of Secured vs Unsecured Release Block, “The Effectiveness and Cost of Secured and Unsecured Release in California’s Large Urban Counties” (2005) Powerful Evidence for the Effectiveness and Cost Savings of Financially Secured Surety Bonds The…
