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 Least Restrictive Means Contrary to What the Government Says, Free Release Can be More Restrictive Than Financially Secured Release In American pretrial law, the principle of the “least restrictive means” is straightforward. When a court decides to release a defendant pending trial, it should…
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…
Part 2: Stack v. Boyle: How the Supreme Court Affirmed Financial Accountability in Bail In 1951, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in Stack v. Boyle that continues to shape bail law and policy more than seven decades later. While the case is…
Part 1: Taylor v. Taintor: The Landmark Supreme Court Case That Legitimized Surety Bail in America The bail profession has a long history. From biblical times to the modern era, bail has played an essential role in balancing individual liberty with the need to ensure…
The Misleading Pretrial Numbers Game How Cashless Bail Supporters Inflate Court Appearance Stats In the heated debate over cashless bail policies, supporters routinely highlight impressive court appearance rates, often claiming 85% to 95% success or higher, as evidence that releasing defendants without money bail or…
Bail Studies: The Six Most Significant Surety Bail Studies Ever Conducted The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth Over the last 30 years, there have been six key pretrial release studies that have not only supported the effectiveness of secured release over…
Why We Fight for Bail Accountability. Appearance. Justice. The bail profession keeps the system working. As a surety representative in the bail profession, you spend a great deal of time traveling across the country, working with bail agents, state associations, and other criminal justice stakeholders.…
Eroding Accountability: How Bail Reform is Creating a Two-Tiered Justice System Ability-to-pay schemes and equity-driven policies are not making the justice system better but are instead creating a system where some groups of people can commit crimes and other groups can’t. In a functioning criminal…
