Proponents of so-called “bail reform” are fond of touting the alleged benefits of a world without bail bonds. To these short-sighted individuals bail is responsible for everything from climate change to the loss of manufacturing jobs and everything in between. But one thing proponents of the bail-less system aren’t so eager to talk about is how many new fugitives the bail free system is creating on a daily basis. It seems that once people rea...

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The quest to undermine the bail bonds system that has worked effectively for a nearly a thousand years has been a multi-pronged effort. If you put this effort under a microscope however, you discover it has 3 essential components:

1. The non-profits that need to manufacture issues to champion.
2. The lobbyists who are paid by the non-profits to strong-arm legislators.
3. And then there are the minions of the media who know that “controversy =...

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In 2017 New Jersey effectively did away with the cash bail bonds system. In its place they adopted a computer program that decided whether defendants should be held for trial or released without bail. In the two years since supporters of the change have scrambled to come up with any statistic they can find (or manufacture) to bolster the fantasy that this change has been good for the Garden State. Most of the arguments in favor of keeping the...

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While ordinary taxpayers have been busy going about their business bail “reformers” with powerful backers have brought financial ruin upon the judicial system in New Jersey, pushed through a bill in California (SB 10) that grants so much power to judges that even the ACLU has come out against it and created hundreds of thousands of new fugitives nationwide. To that last point there are many ways that attempts to eliminate the bondsman has cre...

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In April Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed into law House Bill 1225 which states that those accused of low level offenses such as petty theft, routine traffic violations and a variety of municipal charges can no longer be held in jail because they are unable to afford to pay a cash bail. In addition, the new law states that those currently being held on such charges because they can’t afford their bail must be immediately released. The G...

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The bail algorithm has been touted as the savior of the American justice system. According to its proponents this little understood computer program is able to determine in a nanosecond whether a person will show up in court later if released without bail. So if the computer gives someone the thumbs-up they’re allowed to walk free. If not, then the judge is free to order them held indefinitely. It’s a system many politicians and media types wou...

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The concept of the bail bondsman goes back nearly a thousand years to medieval England when it was introduced as a way to help prevent the crown from being able to arbitrarily lock up anyone they didn’t like. Later, it was modified to put limits on how much bail could be charged (seems the crown was using excessive bail amounts to lock opponents up anyway). As the legal concept of bail migrated to the American Colonies and then to the new Unite...

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