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…
Understanding Bail Reform Research and Propaganda (Part 3 of 4): Harvard Kennedy School Report We are happy to share the third segment of our series on Bail Reform Research and Propaganda. We saw in the review of the last two reports from The Brennan Center…
Understanding Bail Reform Research and Propaganda (Part 2 of 4): The Bail Project Tulsa, Oklahoma Study As we close out October and head into November, “Cashless Bail” is still making headlines across the country. Ever since President Trump’s August 25th executive order, bail reform has…
The Public States and Emphatic “NO” to Cashless Bail For years we have been hearing that the public favored bail reform. We were told that proponents had conducted surveys and polls proving, overwhelmingly, that the public wanted soft on crime policies. Legislators changed the law…
