Pretty much the minute the clock struck midnight on December 31st and the New Year began horror stories have been filtering out of the great state of New York. Not traffic horror stories or horror stories about the price of apartments in the East Village. Horror stories related to the state’s newly enacted bail reform legislation. As predicted by just about everyone with a lick of common sense releasing suspected criminals immediately without a...

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The so-called ‘bail reform’ movement of the past decade has hit some significant roadblocks in the past couple of years. It began with Alaska rolling back its bail reform law after it turned the Great White North into the Wild Wild West. Right here in Jefferson County, Arapahoe County and Denver County people had the good sense to recognize the bail reform snake oil salesmen for what they were/are and send them packing.

One of the biggest blo...

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If you asked people who they think has been behind the bail bonding reform movement some would probably say former California Governor Jerry Brown. Others might say former President Obama. And still others might say President Trump. Chances are good that 0 would say “The Arnold Foundation”. But while all of those political figures and many more have chimed in on the subject it was indeed the non-profit Arnold Foundation - founded by a former ex...

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For decades, the New York Times was considered a bellwether for responsible journalism. If you read an article in the Times, even if you didn’t agree with it, you could be reasonably sure the reporter had done his due diligence. You could also be reasonably sure that the editorial board double and triple-checked their facts before opening their collective mouth on an issue. Not anymore.

Over the past 20 years the Times, along with most othe...

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In late July, a coalition of more than 100 civil society groups including the NAACP, ACLU and Black Lives Matter published a statement calling for states not to adopt the Arnold Foundation’s pretrial risk assessment tool. The statement also called on the few states that have already adopted it to stop using it. This was an extraordinary step considering these groups were some of the most vocal opponents of the bail bonds system the Arnold algo...

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![Subdued version of Ohio State Flag waving](Ohio-State-Flag.jpg"Ohio State Flag")

For nearly a decade the bail reform movement snuck around the country quietly working behind the scenes to try and undo a nearly thousand year old legal tradition: bail bonds. For a while they enjoyed some success, largely because the media paid little attention to the issue and all taxpayers heard were some vague promises that bail reform would save millions.

I...

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Bail reformers are fond of telling anyone who will listen that the current system punishes the poor. The jails are full, they say, of poor, innocent victims of a racist, corrupt judiciary and that ultimate boogeyman: the bondsman. The sad thing is reformers have actually managed to sell their snake oil to legislators in New Jersey, California and a few other states, all of which have come to regret drinking the bail reform Kool-Aid.

New Yor...

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