tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10637163253009202612024-03-13T10:52:51.051-07:00Behind the Paper with Brian NairinBrian Nairin, President & CEO of AIA, blogging about the bail bond industry. AIA (Allegheny Casualty, International Fidelity and Associated Bond) is the largest and oldest bail bond insurance company in the nation.Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-64839085570348951852016-02-02T14:53:00.001-08:002016-02-05T10:02:05.504-08:00Bail Reform and the Poor: Why the Truth Might Surprise You<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There is “one fact” out there that public sector pretrial proponents don’t want anyone to know. And that fact is that the <b>poor don’t really languish away in jail because of the bail bond industry</b>. Why don’t they want anyone to know? Because that one piece of information completely discredits the foundation of their argument against the private sector bail industry. That one fact challenges the entirety of their false narrative that the commercial bail industry, or "money bail" as they refer to it, keeps the poor in jail. And that is extremely important since that<b> false and misguided narrative</b> has become the central mantra of the bail reform movement.<br />
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Over the past couple months there have been several news articles published around the country with headlines like, “Advocates Push Bail Reform to Stop Penalizing People for Being Poor,” and “In Jail, Too Poor to Make Bail.” While these news headlines create excitement and put the cross-hairs on a single protagonist (the bail industry) they are patently false. If these headlines were to be true, then there would have to be two assumptions that everyone would need to believe. First, that law enforcement is strategically going out and arresting people for merely being poor. Second, that rich people and poor people each follow a different set of laws. I think it is important to look at each of these assumptions separately, because when you do, I am sure that you will see how ridiculous the argument becomes.<br />
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Let’s look at the first statement, that “People are not arrested for being poor. The last time I looked there does not seem to be a law or ordinance in any county across the country that says it is a crime to be poor. Therefore, it only makes sense that there can never be a situation where someone is arrested for being poor. The hard truth is that the ONLY reason that someone is sitting in jail is because they have been “accused” of a crime. Somewhere at some time a law enforcement officer had “probable cause” to approach, question and arrest that individual for potentially committing a crime. This fact never seems to be mentioned in stories about so called bail reform, but as you can see it is an extremely important fact. People are not being arrested based on the size of their wallet, but rather on the good chance (probable cause) that they committed a crime.<br />
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The same goes for the second statement…”People do not sit in jail because they are poor.” Many of the arguments being made against the commercial bail industry today are all focused on the premise that bail agents only let rich people out of jail while ignoring those that are poor. These arguments are not only false, but completely myopic and foolish. To be honest, I think that this myopia is based on a lack of understanding of the purpose of bail and how it works. Let me explain why. First, if you were to ask any supporter of public sector pretrial programs how commercial bail works, I would bet you that the answer you would get would be incorrect or simply they might reply, “I don’t know.” The reason I say this is because if you fully understand how bail works, you could never say that the industry is unfair to the poor. Before I get into this a little more, I first wanted to deal with the other side of the coin…that the bail industry only serves rich people and helps them get out of jail, and debunk this myth as well. This explanation is actually pretty simple. The so called “Rich” people that opponents of commercial bail talk about, do not use bail bond agents. Instead, they write a check to the court for the full amount of the bail. Bill Cosby doesn’t need a bail agent, he writes a check and posts the full amount of the bail himself. If anything, this scenario shows how commercial bail industry isn’t designed for the rich, but rather it is specifically designed to level the playing field and help those that do not have the means to put up the full amount of the bond. Bail gives ALL socio economic levels an opportunity to be released by charging a small fee which is only a fraction of the full amount of the bail. <br />
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Next, when someone makes the statement that someone can’t get out of jail because they are poor, they don’t fully understand who the customer of a bail agent really is. A bail bond agent’s customer is NOT the defendant. It is the family, friends and extended members of the defendant’s social circle that want that defendant out. So the socio-economic situation of the defendant in reality is really irrelevant since they rarely are the ones paying to get themselves out. In fact, based on input from several of the nation’s largest sureties, 95% of those that are released from jail have their bail paid by a third party. Only a very small percentage of defendants self-bail…or pay their bail themselves. That third party contract is what makes bail so effective. Instead of relying on a defendant to show up and solely hold them accountable, bail ties an additional third party to the contract that has both an emotional and financial incentive to not only get that defendant to court, but also keep them out of trouble while they await trial.<br />
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As you can see, when you look more closely and fully understand the bail process and its purpose, it is easy to understand that bail agents do not discriminate against or feed on the poor. But rather they are a lifeline to those defendants and families who don’t have the ability to pay their own bail; all the while, providing better security for the community and accountability to the court around each defendant that is released. Aren’t those things the most important? <br />
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Based on the above facts, you really need to begin to question the credibility and motives behind those pushing the bail reform movement forward. To put a target on an industry that plays such an essential role in the criminal justice system seems misguided and illogical. If we truly want to reform our criminal justice system, the answer shouldn’t be to dismantle the private sector’s role, but rather to bring all stakeholder together including the bail industry to have meaningful and productive discussions to develop the most efficient and effective way to ensure that our system provides justice for everyone…not just the rich…and not just the poor.<br />
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Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-1418571859652439312016-01-27T10:36:00.002-08:002016-01-27T10:37:04.365-08:00Bail Reform: Bully Activism at its Best<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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To say the criminal justice system is a complex thing is an understatement at best. To say that there are things that could be improved in the system is also simply pointing out the obvious. However to say that the cure for improving this imperfect complex system is as simple as eliminating the commercial bail industry is just ludicrous.<br />
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Over the past several months there have been several lawsuits filed around the country by two activist attorneys on behalf of a Washington D.C. non-profit. Most of these lawsuits have been filed in small counties where these attorneys assume that they can force the hand of these small local governments to give in and settle the cases. Unfortunately this tact of utilizing the court system to challenge policy, is ineffective at delivering any type of workable solution to the real problems in the criminal justice system. Additionally, the outcome being forced on these counties is going to lead to greater socioeconomic inequalities and substantial levels of decrease in public safety and accountability across the system.<br />
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The argument being made in each of these lawsuits is one of constitutionality. The activists claim that predetermined bail schedules are unconstitutional because they violate the equal protection clause provided in the 14th Amendment. Simply said, those with money are able to bail out and those without money must stay in jail. The problem with this statement is that it distorts and ignores the purpose of bail and the strategic rationale behind the creation of bail schedules in the first place. Here are a couple facts that you won’t hear from the activists. First, bail schedules are not created through magic or chance or secret money schemes. They are well thought out financial legal determinations made by a panel of several judges in a given county. They are also continuously reviewed and updated on a predetermined schedule to ensure they maintain fairness and relevance over time. Second, the main purpose of these schedules is to speed up and facilitate the release process. When courts are closed, defendants are able to have a bail set by the schedule and be released quicker than having to wait for the court to open the next day. In other words, more people spending less time in jail and saving the county the cost of a jail bed. Once again, the intended purpose of bail schedules is to speed up the release process for defendants and to make an argument against a process intended to quickly and efficiently support a defendants 8th amendment right is nothing but counterproductive and frivolous.<br />
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At the core of these lawsuits is the belief that the bail system is the primary reason why problems exist across our criminal justices system. Bail gets blamed for jails being crowded. Bail gets blamed for jails letting too many people out. Bail gets blamed for racism. Bail gets blamed for keeping poor people in jail. While each of these accusations makes great headlines for the activists and those that support them, the reality is that each of these claims is patently untrue. Bail is, in actuality, the ultimate equalizer in the criminal justice system. It exists in a space between the defendant, the victim and the community and ensures that all parties have an equal chance at justice. Without bail the poor would be worse off and our communities would be less safe.<br />
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Let me explain. In each and every one of the lawsuits being filed by these activists, they are making the claim that bail is only for the rich and discriminates against the poor. This couldn’t be further from the truth. What these activist lawyers don’t understand is that the main customer of the bail industry is the poor. Why? Because the so called “rich” will typically post the full amount of the bond and not use a commercial bail bondsman. The bail industry exists to assist those families who cannot afford to pay the full amount of the bond. The bail industry makes release more attainable and affordable by charging a fraction of the amount of the set bail for a promise/guarantee to return to court. Without bail, the jails would quickly fill up and the only alternative would be to release everyone on simply their promise to appear. And we know from history and experience that this form of release is the least effective at ensuring a defendant returns to court. Releasing someone from jail with NO financial incentive to return, not only eliminates any sense of accountability in our criminal justice system, but also creates a real threat to public safety. When a defendant fails to appear for trial, the victim is re-victimized and the community is less safe from future crimes.<br />
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It is important for people to understand that the ultimate purpose of bail is not about release, it is about appearance. Defendants should not be released if there is no confidence in them returning to court. What bail does is create confidence amongst the victims, the families, the communities and the courts that there will be a trial and that justice will have its best chance at being served. How can anyone think that removing this essential component from the criminal justice system is a responsible or even moral act. <br />
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While not a perfect institution by any means, the bail industry is not the evil empire that it is being made out to be by those that have openly admitted to wanting to end its existence. While only a small cog in the overall complex machine that is our criminal justice system, bail is still an essential and “load bearing” piece of the puzzle that not only supports racial and socioeconomic equalities, but does so in a way that is fair and accountable. In my view that is something that can’t be overlook and shouldn’t be removed from the system because of misguided and frivolous bully activism. <br />
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<br />Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-6829615869134231782015-11-10T12:46:00.000-08:002015-11-10T13:04:58.900-08:00Bail Reform: Is it Really What the Public Wants?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I never thought I would be quoting Donald Trump as it relates to the bail industry, but I couldn’t think of a more appropriate statement than the following, “We must be doing something right, we are leading in the polls.” This statement is in regards to a recent poll being conducted by The News Journal in Delaware. The News Journal is one of 30 print sites for USA Today and can be found at delawareonline.com. In other words, this is no rinky dink media site. If you don’t already know, Delaware is one of the states considering getting rid of “money bail” or as they refer to it bail reform. The reality is that “bail reform” in the minds of those driving this initiative has nothing to do with reform but rather the complete elimination of bail from the criminal justice system. Why I mentioned Donald Trump in my opening sentence and referred to the poll being administered on The News Journal website, is because while bail reform is being pushed by pretrial advocates and the public sector, it looks like it isn’t being supported by the public. According the poll on the Delaware online website asking the public should Delaware end cash bail, the public is overwhelmingly stating its position. And that position is NO! As of 11:00 AM PST today, November 10, 2015, 54% of those taking the poll have said keep the money bail system, while only 37% have said no. Here is a link to the poll… https://polldaddy.com/poll/9168661/?view=results.<br />
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The results of this survey raise a very interesting and important question in my mind. That is, why is so much media attention and effort being spent by activists and pretrial advocates on the elimination of money bail? Especially when polls like this one all show that public opinion seems to support the bail industry. In fact, if you survey (and we have) most stakeholders in the criminal justice system, you will find that their support of commercial bail is overwhelming and their perceptions of the industry are mostly positive. Below are some survey results regarding bail that you will never see in the media.<br />
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<li>In a 2012 survey at the American Judges’ Association National Conference, <b>96% of judges said that when a defendant was released on a commercial bail bond they were confident that they would appear in court</b>. 30% of judges had NO CONFIDENCE that a defendant would show up when they were released by a public sector pretrial services agency.</li>
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<li>In a 2012 survey taken at the eCourts Conference, <b>91% of criminal justice stakeholders (clerks, judges, administrators and attorneys) said that commercial bail plays an important role in the criminal justice system</b>. Additionally, when asked to compare commercial bail and public sector pretrial services in terms of effectiveness, <b>86% described bail as effective while only 48% described pretrial services as effective.</b></li>
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<li>In a 2013 poll taken by NewsOne in Cook County (where there is no commercial bail) consumers were asked whether taxpayer dollars should be used to bail out inmates. The results were an overwhelming <b>“Absolutely Not” with 53% of the vote</b>.</li>
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<li>In a 2013 survey taken at the National Sheriffs’ Association Conference, <b>83% of Sheriffs said that using a commercial bail bond is the MOST EFFECTIVE form of pretrial release</b> and the best way to ensure a defendant show up for court. <b>Only 13% said that public sector pretrial release agencies were the most effective. </b></li>
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With people both inside the criminal justice system as well as the public at large all supporting the concept of bail and its effectiveness, then why does it seem like so many groups are out to eliminate bail and in the process creating such a firestorm of debate around the issue?<br />
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The only thing that I can say in response to that question is, I don’t know. Is there some sort of secret agenda working within the system to do away bail because they don’t like us? I don’t know, maybe. Is there a disdain for the bail community by the American Bar Association because we compete for the same customer dollars? I don’t know, maybe. Is there need for the courts to generate more revenue for themselves and the bail industry is in the way? Once again, I don’t really know. I wish I did, but it is hard to answer questions that seem so cloak and dagger and laced with conspiracy theories. <br />
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That being said, there are a lot of these types of questions that I could answer in the same way by just saying “I don’t know, maybe” over and over again, however I think it would be better instead to tell you what I do know. There is currently a fundamental shift happening in our criminal justice system. This shift is an outcome of the “tough on crime” attitude and policies of the past that to be honest, have kept us safe and kept a lot of bad guys in jail. Unfortunately, as the jails and prisons have gotten more crowded, there has been a shift in ideology amongst our leadership that now looks at our criminal justice system as the problem rather than the well documented and proven increases in crime. While yes, our criminal justice system can always use improvements to ensure the safe, fair and balanced execution and enforcement of our laws, it does not mean that we should hastily change things and remove those components that are working just for the sake of change. Any reform must truly be about reform and improving a system. Removing commercial bail from any state or county’s criminal justice system would not improve anything at all, but rather lead to more overcrowded jails, less accountability and more crime, i.e., Chicago and Philadelphia. History does repeat itself, and if we are looking for a re-run of the ideological criminal justice reform movement of the 60s and 70s, which by the way led to the tough on crime policies of the 80s and 90s, than we will just end up right back where we are today. <br />
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The concept of bail is one that has been around for centuries, even dating back to biblical times. This longevity is not just a testament to the effectiveness of bail as a mechanism for holding people accountable, but also proof of its ability to serve as a tool for ALL in the criminal justice system regardless of race, income level, etc. As I have said before, the proof is in the pudding, and the pudding here is years of data and research that show how effective this industry is at ensuring our system has a chance to work in a fair and balanced way. And no matter how hard the public sector pretrial advocates try to spread false narratives about our industry and tout their fancy new “evidenced based risk assessments”, the public will hopefully be able to look past the smoke and see the truth. Because the truth is anything that these public sector advocates say they can do to reform the criminal justice system, the private sector is already doing it and has been for years at no cost to taxpayers and with much greater success. It is time our public officials start paying attention to the facts and start listening to those that they represent, because in Delaware, the people are speaking loud and clear, “DO NOT END THE STATE’S CASH BAIL SYSTEM.<br />
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Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-35302043918128774582015-09-16T09:53:00.000-07:002015-09-16T10:31:41.850-07:00The Untold Cost of Eliminating “Money-Bail” … A Lot More Money<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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While proponents of public sector pretrial release are making their way across the country blaming the ills of the criminal justice system on the commercial bail industry, there is one thing that they never seem to want to discuss…and that is the “REAL” cost of reform. Why? Because if you begin to add up the cost of replacing the private sector commercial bail industry, which costs counties and states $0 to operate, with more public sector employees and bureaucracy, you quickly begin to see costs spiral out of control and a whole new definition of public sector “Money Bail” comes into view. Just this past weekend a story was published on the dailyrecord.com website about the significant cost of bail reform in New Jersey. Unfortunately, for taxpayers cost isn’t something that was considered. Based on estimates presented during testimony, it was determined that the cost of a pretrial program in New Jersey could top $200 Million. …something no one seemed to think about during the state’s bail reform debate despite, the continuous suggestions and objections of the commercial bail industry.<br />
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An important fact about public sector pretrial service agencies that the Pretrial Justice Institute, The VERA Institute and the Justice Policy Institute don’t want to share is that providing these services is NOT FREE. In actuality, they are extremely expensive and require substantially large outlays of valuable tax-dollars to fund. For example, Washington D.C.’s pretrial program requires a whopping $58 Million to manage only 5,000 defendants. Using that formula of $11,600 per defendant ($58 Million/5000) and calculating the cost of a placing similar pretrial program in a typical metropolitan city like Dallas County Texas which averages over 22,000 pretrial releases a year, you get a total cost of over $255 Million. Now if that is not the definition of Money Bail, I don’t know what is.<br />
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Additionally, this discussion has just been about cost. Once you throw effectiveness into the picture, things look even worse for the public sector pretrial programs. The costs go even higher. For example, in Dallas County, Texas, a study by the University of Texas at Dallas, determined that there is a cost to the county of $1775 every time a defendant fails to appear in court. As compared to private sector commercial bail and based on a FTA cost of $1775 per defendant and a dismal appearance rate of only 63%, pretrial services cost Dallas County an additional $11,000,000 in effectiveness (or lack of effectiveness) costs.<br />
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Lastly, there is also a social cost to pretrial release. This is the cost to the victim and a community when the defendant who was supposed to appear for trial doesn’t. And instead of facing justice, is out committing additional crimes. While this number is more difficult to calculate and put an actual dollar amount to, it has been determined by some studies to be as high as $25,000 per defendant.<br />
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This social cost is probably the most impactful negative costs of ineffective public sector pretrial services.<br />
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So, if you are an average metropolitan county in the US that is looking to operate the most cost efficient and effective pretrial release program possible, which option would you choose? <br />
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<b><u>Option 1 – Public sector pretrial services</u></b><br />
Operational Costs $255,000,000*<br />
Effectiveness Costs $11,000,000**<br />
Social Costs Substantial (high rates of recidivism)<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">*Based on DC pretrial costs of $11,600/defendant multiplied by the number of releases in an average metropolitan county like Dallas County, Texas</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">** Based on Dallas County Study, Dr. Morris, 2012, the cost of FTA's between pretrial services and commercial bail.</span></i><br />
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<b><u>Option 2 – Private sector commercial bail</u></b><br />
Operational Costs $0<br />
Effectiveness Costs $0<br />
Social Costs Minimal (low rates of recidivism)<br />
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The comparison is not even close. Private sector commercial bail is not only more effective in guaranteeing the appearance of a defendant in court, but it does so at zero cost to taxpayers. Additionally, the social cost that bail has on the community at large is much lower. When people show up for court, they are not out in the community committing additional crimes. Lastly, through premium taxes and forfeiture payments, the commercial bail industry actually generates millions of dollars in positive revenue for states and counties...something taxpayer funded public sector pretrial programs can never do.<br />
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So the next time you hear someone in the public sector talk about the ineffectiveness of “money bail,” it’s time to clarify to key stakeholders that it is the public sector that is the truly the most expensive and ineffective form of money bail around.<br />
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Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-50162503447291464742015-08-28T08:57:00.000-07:002015-08-28T08:57:40.781-07:00Bail Bonds and Finding the Good: What goes right in the criminal justice system everyday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If you are in the bail industry, like me, you probably read
all the articles that are published in the media about our industry. Unfortunately, most of these articles are
about negative things. For example, a
couple weeks ago, a fugitive recovery agent in Arizona, broke into the wrong
house looking for a fugitive defendant.
To makes things worse, the house belonged to the Phoenix Chief of
Police. This story hit every paper
around the country. Now don’t get me
wrong, this situation is horrible and should have never happened, but what
people need to realize is that this one story shouldn’t define the entire
industry. Because on August 4<sup>th</sup>
2015, the same day this was happening, approximately 14,000 other bail agents
were doing a whole heck of a lot of good for the criminal justice system. These 14,000 agents were ensuring that over
90,000 defendants around the country show up for court. Unfortunately, you don’t see a lot of news
stories about that.</div>
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Everyday bail agents all over the country are guaranteeing
that the wheels of our criminal justice system continue to turn. As the most effective form of pretrial
release, bail agents in 46 out of the 50 states across the country, ensure the
appearance of those accused of a crime in court. Why is this important? Because when the defendant shows up for
trial, the system gets a chance to work.
The defendant gets a chance to tell their story. The people get a chance to tell their story. The potential victim(s) gets a chance at
justice. And most importantly, the
defendant isn’t out in the community committing additional crimes. </div>
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Unfortunately, the media misses the opportunity to share the
reality of this misunderstood business.
Instead, they gravitate towards promoting the dark, swarthy, crooked
images that have been created and promoted by Hollywood, reality television and
crime novelists over the years to sell more tickets, ratings and books. In addition to getting the image wrong, the
majority of stories about the bail industry get the facts wrong too. From stories about one-off incidents like the
one in Arizona to more mainstream politically motivated stories about “bail
reform” the bail industry is rarely portrayed in a factual way. For example, when describing why jails are
crowded, these stories claim that defendants are stuck in jail because they
can’t afford a $3000 bond. What they
don’t explain is that a $3000 bond would only require that the defendant come
up with $300 to be released.
Additionally, in today’s competitive bail market, with payment plans widely
available, that defendant has the ability to be released for even less than
that as long as they agree to a payment schedule. Also, what these stories never mention are
the countless studies that have been conducted around the topic of pretrial
release that all prove that it is the most effective way to ensure a
defendant’s appearance in court. Not
just one study, but dozens of studies, conducted by government entities, educational
institutions and private parties, that all come to the same conclusion, bail
works. The only problem is that the
effectiveness of bail doesn’t align with the “soft on crime”. “hug a thug”
political narrative driving the bail reform movement today. So instead of reading about the truth and the
facts, we get the glorified drama and negative spin.</div>
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What many people don’t realize is that, love them or hate them,
bail agents play an essential and effective role in the criminal justice
system. At no cost to taxpayers, they
hold defendants accountable and help ensure justice is done for all parties
involved. Yes there might be incidents
that portray the industry as “bad”, but the reality is that there is a lot more
“good” done in one day by bail agents than you would ever think.</div>
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Imagine if we judged all professions in the world like we do
the bail bond industry, just by the negative stories we see in the media. Is it fair to say all teachers sleep with
their students because a couple teachers did so? Probably not.
Is it fair to say all
professional athletes hit their wives because one did? Probably not.
I think you get where I am going with this.</div>
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Bail is something that not a lot of people fully understand
or have any experience with, but it is an industry that most will describe in a
negative way based on what they see in the movies and read in the media. It is time that people stop rushing to
judgement when they hear the word “bail.”
Instead, they should make the effort to fully understand the role, the
people and the effectiveness of the industry and base their judgement on the
facts. Because if people do take the
time to understand this industry, I am confident that they will see how much
the good does outweigh the bad and how important bail is to maintaining
accountability and fairness in the American criminal justice system.</div>
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Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-91928142740964579722015-08-10T08:53:00.002-07:002015-08-10T10:26:34.183-07:002015: A Good Year to be a Bad Guy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As the “tough on crime” mantra appears to becoming a thing of the past, one thing is for certain, 2015 will be one of the best years in modern history to be a “bad guy.” Yes, all over the country, our criminal justice system is transitioning away from being tough on criminals to something more of a friend to criminals. In other words, punishment and accountability are no longer the answers to preventing crime. Instead, those concepts have been replaced with more politically correct soft on crime concepts of “more understanding” and “more caring” towards those who are accused of crimes. Now proponents of this approach often say that they aren’t being soft on crime, but rather they are just being “smart on crime.” While well intentioned I am sure, the reality is that these so called “smart on crime” approaches aren’t ending up with very “smart” results. In this new proposed model of criminal justice, the real victim is no longer the person who had a crime committed against them, but rather the person who committed the crime. No longer is it more important to seek justice for the victim, but rather it has become more important to seek justice for the criminal…a far cry from a once effective tough on crime approach and a far cry from something I would call “smart.” <br />
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Now many of you reading this blog are probably saying to yourself, “Brian, come on now, you really think that things are that bad? Do people really care more about the bad guys than the good guys?” My answer to that is both “no” and “yes.” First, “no”…I don’t think that the majority of people want criminals to go unpunished and to be roaming our streets without oversight. Second, that being said, yes…the evidence shows that the people we are letting out of jail are not good people and the proof is in the pudding. Many of those in leadership positions around the country are making decisions about our criminal justice systems based on ideology and emotion. And these decisions are not ones that are designed to improve the state of public safety in our communities, but rather improve the state of the criminals.<br />
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For example, in California, voters were recently duped by the state’s leadership to pass Proposition 47. This proposition was called “The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.” To this day, I am still not sure what this proposition had to do with Schools or with Safe Neighborhoods. What this proposition did do however is make being a bad guy in California an easier thing to be. With county jails being overcrowded (a situation caused by a previous “smart on crime” bill AB109...the topic of another blog post) Proposition 47 was offered as a cure all to the growing problem. But instead of curing the problem by expanding the capacity of our jail and prison systems to alleviate the overcrowding, Proposition 47 takes the opposite approach. Proposition 47 waters down the description and classification of a long list of crimes and reduces (almost to the point of eliminating) the punishment for others. Under Proposition 47, many crimes that were once deemed to be felonies are now being re-classified as only misdemeanors. Those accused of these new misdemeanor crimes face very little repercussions for committing them. In fact, most of the time, they are just let out of jail (sometimes just cited and released) with no real supervision and no assurance they will ever come back. The best we get from a public safety standpoint is a promise by the person that they will return for court. And what happens if they don’t…pretty much nothing. A warrant is issued and put into a growing pile of warrants for local law enforcement to deal with. And trust me when I say that those committing crimes are not stupid. They know that they don’t have to show up for court. They know that no one will come and get them when they don’t. And they know that if they do get caught they will just be released again. Does that really sound like something that is “smart on crime”…does that sound like a formula for Safe Neighborhoods and Schools?<br />
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Once again, some of you are probably saying, come on Brian, people aren’t being let out of jail for real crimes. They are probably only letting out those who have jaywalking tickets and unpaid parking tickets. Unfortunately, people are getting out for what many consider, including me, “real crimes.” Under Proposition 47 charges like heroin possession, Rohypnol (date rape drug) possession and cocaine possession are no longer felonies. Forgetting the question of why someone would possess Rohypnol in the first place (if they weren’t planning on using it), the declassification of these types of charges from felonies to misdemeanors, can have serious consequences. For example, someone who has been convicted of possessing these types of drugs and has now only been charged with a misdemeanor (or multiple misdemeanors) can still legally go out and buy a gun. Yep, I said buy a gun. But to be honest, they might not have to even buy one, because they can just go out and steal one (as long as it is valued under $950) and thanks to Proposition 47 face nothing but the equivalent of a parking ticket.<br />
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Proponents of this soft on crime approach will always tell you that it is too early to tell if it is working or not. Unfortunately, for those of us that live in the community, it isn’t too early. Property crimes have skyrocketed all over the state. Auto break-ins and thefts are skyrocketing. Jails are being re-filled with those that have been released and caught committing additional crimes only to be released again under the same lax supervision standards. As I mentioned earlier, it is a good time to be a bad guy.<br />
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As someone who has worked in the criminal justice system for my entire professional life, I have seen a constant shift between tough on crime and soft on crime stances among our leadership and legislation. However, to be honest, I have never seen such a monumental shift in one direction that I have seen today. A shift towards the criminal being treated like the victim and in many cases treated better than the real victim. Let’s just hope this current shift doesn’t last too long. Let’s hope that communities raise their voices and demand that the public be protected and victims be supported. Because at the end of the day, crime should never pay and it should never be a good time to be a bad guy.<br />
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I look forward to your comments.<br />
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<br />Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-55424351339442772042014-08-27T07:39:00.001-07:002014-08-27T07:45:28.213-07:00Justice Should be Measured in Efficacy as Opposed to Dollars...Especially When the Cost is Public Safety<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Lately it seems like there have been a lot of stories out in the media about the cost of a <b>bail bond</b>. The majority of these articles have taken the stance that the challenges in our criminal justice system are caused by the bail bond industry. There are two main arguments that have surfaced as part of this debate, and as I will show you, both are flawed.<br />
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Argument number one is that the bail bond industry causes<b> jail overcrowding</b>. It is the most common and probably most untrue talking point of those who oppose the co<b>mmercial bail industry</b>. For years advocates of public sector pretrial release have used this argument to put a target on the commercial bail industry in the hopes of swaying public opinion and legislative support towards their own agenda. They say people are languishing away in jail because they can’t afford a bail bond. This statement couldn’t be farther away from the truth. Here are the facts. Jail overcrowding is not a problem stemming from the actions of the commercial bail industry. It is a problem that is created through process inefficiencies within the court system. Process inefficiencies that I believe could be solved but that is the topic of another blog. If jail overcrowding was caused by people being unable to afford a bail bond than it would only make sense that in jurisdictions where there is no commercial bail, jail overcrowding wouldn’t exist. Well I can confidently say that this premise is FALSE. Just in the past 12 months, there has been numerous jail overcrowding stories out of states like Oregon, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Illinois. All states that do not allow commercial bail.<br />
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The jail overcrowding argument also falls short when you look deeper into the make-up of the populations that are in the jail. For example, back in 2012 the ACLU funded a study with the JFA Institute in Los Angeles County to determine why the jails were overcrowded. The premise of the study was that 70% of people occupying the LA County jail were there in pretrial status and there because they couldn’t afford a bail bond. Once the study broke down and identified who the individuals were that made up the jail population it became very clear that was not the case. It was discovered that a large portion of the 70% were not there because they couldn’t afford bail, but rather because they were simply “not bailable.” These defendants were being held in “pretrial status” but for a number of reasons including probation violations, immigration holds, too violent to be released, awaiting transfer to another jail, awaiting sentencing, etc.) and were not eligible for bail. In fact, the 70% drops down to about 12% who are eligible to be released, and the majority of those people get out using a commercial bail bond. So at this point, I think it is safe to assume that argument number one has been addressed. Commercial bail does not cause jail overcrowding.<br />
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The second argument is almost the complete opposite of argument one (which is interesting because both arguments get used against the commercial bail industry simultaneously even though they contradict each other). Many in the public sector pretrial community argue that <b>bail bondsmen</b> are releasing defendants for $0 or for very little money down and putting defendants on payment plans. Unlike argument number one, there is nothing false about this statement. Yes, the bail industry has evolved much like every other consumer business in this country. Just as retailers like Best Buy offer big screen televisions on payment plans, when the economy got tough, the bail industry evolved to help consumers better afford their product by offering payment plans too. Critics of the bail bond industry use this argument to say that the bail industry is undermining the criminal justice system by letting people out of jail for less than the judge intended them to have to pay. While this argument might seem plausible on the surface, it is fundamentally flawed on many levels. First, if we go back to argument number one, how can jails be overcrowded if bail agents are letting people go for $0. In fact, while some bail agents do take payment plans, the face amount of the bond remains the same and is forfeited if the defendant misses court, as discussed below. Second, the alternative options to commercial bail are public sector pretrial services or own recognizance release. These are both pretrial release options that let the defendant out of jail with $0 money. That being said, even with $0 down, the commercial bail industry provides a higher level of oversight, accountability and management than any of these other forms of release. And this fact has been proven time and time again over many decades by countless government, private and educational research studies. All which show that commercial bail is the most effective form of release.<br />
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While the previous paragraphs are important to clarify and identify the faults of argument number two, and for purposes of this blog post even identify the faults of argument number one, there is an apparent lack of understanding of the concept of pretrial release overall and commercial bail. This lack of understanding exists not only among those who oppose the industry, but by those who make decisions about our criminal justice system and our public safety. The concept of bail has never been and should never be focused on what someone has to pay to be released. While this statement may be shocking to some, any argument around the cost of a bail bond should be considered irrelevant. The goal of pretrial release is about one thing and one thing only…ensuring that the defendant shows up for court. The decision about the monetary value assigned to a bail by a judge is not assigned based on how much a defendant has to pay to get out, but rather how much a defendant or indemnitor (an contractually obligated third party) has to pay if they don’t show up for court. For some reason, the concept of bail and pretrial release has been shifted to the upfront cost of the product as opposed to the effectiveness of achieving the product’s purpose… which once again is getting defendants to show up for court. What makes financially secured release so effective at assuring appearance is the way that it ties a third party to the release contract between the court and the defendant. This third party has a financial obligation (and incentive) to make sure that the defendant shows up for court. That financial obligation centers on the full amount of the bond. It has nothing to do with what that third party paid for the insurance product (which is ultimately what a bail bond is) but rather what they will pay if the defendant defaults on the insurance policy…or doesn’t show up for court. <br />
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If we as a society are going to truly reform our criminal justice system, we need to look beyond ideology and focus on the facts. When we talk about evidenced based pretrial practices, we must talk about all forms of release both unsecured and secured. We must emphasize the things that truly make a difference like efficacy and what works best. We need to understand and come to agreement on what method of pretrial release achieves the ultimate goal of what we want our criminal justice system to represent….things like order, accountability, fairness, compassion, and so much more. All of these things can all be achieved if we first focus on what works. The true cost of justice is not what you have to pay for it, but rather, the ultimate cost of what you lose when it comes to public safety. Once we can all come together on these things, we can then begin to have meaningful and productive conversations not about bail reform but about criminal justice reform. I look forward to hearing your comments.Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-34886482219839917982014-08-04T10:26:00.000-07:002014-08-04T10:26:00.420-07:00Supreme Support of Commercial Bail<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With the overwhelming amount of “bail reform” related media coverage coming out of New Jersey recently it has been pretty easy to miss some pretty substantial bail industry related news coverage coming out of the rest of the country. Most notably have been the recent stories out of both Ohio and Washington State.<br />
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One could say that July was a good month for public safety and support for effective criminal justice reform. First in Ohio, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the courts to require that defendants only pay bail by paying 10% cash to the court. It was determined that the court must accept surety bonds as a form of release if the consumer chooses to utilize one. Additionally, just last week, the Supreme Court in Washington State came down with a similar ruling stating that the current state constitution allows for bail to be paid by sufficient surety. With this ruling, a court cannot require only one form of 10% cash, but must allow all forms of “sufficient surety” including a commercial bail bond.<br />
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Why are these two decisions so important? Well, for the first time, a precedent has been set by the highest court in two different states that establish commercial bail as a necessary and required form of pretrial release. These decisions are supported by decades upon decades of research that prove the effectiveness of financially secured release through a commercial bail bond as the most effective form of pretrial release. The research done on the subject of pretrial release has been both broad and deep in terms of its source and purpose. From research funded by government agencies to research conducted by private industry groups to research conducted by leading educational institutions, the results have all been the same. Pretrial release through a financially secured commercial bail bond is not only the most effective way to ensure a defendants appearance at court, but also the most effective way to encourage less recidivistic behavior while out on release. And all of these benefits come with zero cost to taxpayers.<br />
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I am hopeful that these two big Supreme Court decisions signal a change in how legislators and the public perceive and understand the role of commercial bail in the criminal justice system. Putting aside all the misperceptions and over the top characters generated by Hollywood and the media, it is reassuring to see key decision makers at the highest of state levels recognize and support an industry that does so much in guaranteeing the rights of all who are involved. From the rights of defendants, to the rights of the victim to the rights of the public at large, commercial bail is the one entity that maintains, trust, accountability and promise in the complex system of criminal justice. I look forward to your comments.<br />
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Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-20605035586509124562014-06-16T07:44:00.000-07:002014-06-16T07:44:58.734-07:00Remove “Justice” From Criminal Justice…and What You Have Left is Just Criminal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Jail overcrowding is a topic that has been in the news a lot lately, especially in California. Thanks mostly to AB109, Governor Brown’s prison realignment plan, there has been a massive influx of thousands of convicted state prisoners that have been moved from state prisons and placed in local county jails. While on the surface this solution might seem logical, move the people where the space is, the reality is that it is not logical at all. What happens when you place state prisoners in county jails is that the county jails become crowded and the pretrial populations that these facilities were designed to handle in the first place are now kicked to the streets for lack of space. Why does this matter? It matters because in doing so, we send a message to those committing crimes that if they commit a crime in California and it is not a violent, non-serious crime, then they will get the equivalent of a slap on the wrist and put back out on the streets with no accountability or oversight. Just check out this latest report out of Roseville, California where criminals are being released and rearrested within days only to be released again.<br />
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Original article: <b><a href="http://fox40.com/2014/06/11/local-law-enforcement-frustrated-with-non-stop-inmate-release/" target="_blank">Local Law Enforcement Frustrated with Non-Stop Inmate Release</a></b><br />
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So what is the solution to this problem? As you can imagine, the answer to such a complex problem such as this isn’t simply one thing, but rather it must consist of a range of solutions that include both public and private solutions. One of these solutions is the private commercial bail industry that has been playing a vital role in California’s criminal justice system for close to a century. Not only does the commercial bail industry facilitate the management of pretrial defendants in California’s criminal justice system, it does so at $0 cost to the state and taxpayer. In fact, based on countless research studies conducted by the Department of Justice and several prestigious universities across the country, the commercial bail industry has been shown to be the most effective form of releasing defendants pretrial and ensuring their appearance in court. Based on those facts, one can only assume that the commercial bail industry would be a big consideration as one of the solutions to more effectively and efficiently release these pretrial populations from the county jails and ensure that those defendants not only go to court, but stay out of trouble in the meantime. Based on those facts, one can only assume that having someone accountable and financially on the hook for their behavior is a better option than just releasing them on their own (which the news story referenced above clearly shows does not work). Unfortunately, commercial bail is not being looked at as a potential solution.<br />
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Why? Because still, in the face of all those facts, there are those who refuse to accept financially secured release as a viable pretrial release option. In the face of all those facts there are still those that push only for more public sector resources and programs which cost valuable taxpayer dollars that the state doesn't have. Isn't it time that our leadership stop ignoring the facts and the realities of the ineffectiveness and unsustainable costs associated with public sector pretrial release programs and come to the table to discuss real solutions; Solutions that incorporate the best of both the private and public sectors working together. Only time will tell.Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-70033723559711172052014-05-08T10:07:00.001-07:002014-05-08T10:07:57.684-07:00We Don't Need No Stinking Truth...The Unfortunate Mantra of the Public Sector Pretrial Movement<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A couple weeks back I wrote a blog on a recent study released by the National Institute of Corrections. The focus of the study was an assessment of the New Orleans Pretrial Services Program. As I pointed out in my previous blog post, <a href="http://briannairinbail.blogspot.com/2014/03/an-assessment-of-new-orleans-pretrial.html" target="_blank">An Assessment of the New Orleans Pretrial Services Program is no Assessment at All</a>, the findings from this study raised many questions in my mind, but none more revealing than the following quote below from the report:<br />
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<b><i>“The current verification process is time consuming and is contributing to the staffing demands and length of detention time and is likely to not have an impact on a defendant’s pretrial success if released from custody.”</i></b><br />
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If you are someone that has paid any attention to the public sector/private sector pretrial release debate that has been going on for the past several years, then you are probably rereading the statement above over and over in disbelief. I know that because that is exactly what I did. And to be honest, this statement is extremely enlightening as a reason for why jails are overcrowded and why throwing more tax dollars at a solution is ultimately inefficient and ineffective.<br />
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Verification of a defendant’s information is not only necessary for the pretrial process, but absolutely essential. Ask any bail bond agent, and they will without hesitation agree. The accuracy of the information you collect from the defendant is directly related to their potential to show up and your ability to retrieve them should they not. However, according to the NIC’s report, validating this information is not important and instead time consuming, expensive and ineffective. It is like saying that building a house with nails takes too much time, is expensive and ultimately doesn’t matter in the quality of the end product. So instead, don’t use nails and just put the wood together and hope it stays upright. As we all know, this is a ridiculous statement. Verifying a defendant’s information is vital to fully understanding and managing the risk that every defendant poses…period.<br />
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Additionally, for as long as I can remember, the public sector pretrial community has pointed the finger at the commercial bail industry as the cause of jail overcrowding. This statement is further proof of that misguided accusation’s fallacy while at the same time an eye opening revelation of public sector pretrial’s role in jail overcrowding… “The current verification process is time consuming and is contributing to…length of detention time.” It is unbelievable and extremely telling to me that the NIC report would not only make this claim, but make it in a way that they see is a positive statement in support of more public sector pretrial services.<br />
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The statement above also sheds light on another false claim that has been made by public sector pretrial for many years. That is, that public sector pretrial service programs save money because they let defendants out and save the county the cost of a jail bed. What they never point out is that most of the costs of running a jail are fixed costs and are not reduced by simply letting a defendant out. That cost savings is almost nominal.<br />
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The compelling part of this statement is that it readily admits that these pretrial programs require more staffing to run them, which means more money. So you are releasing a defendant to supposedly save money, but hiring multiple employees to manage that process for a net loss. By the way, just for the record, don’t even get me started on the true cost of these pretrial programs…that is a whole other blog. <a href="https://plus.google.com/106015929870657785530/posts?rel=author" target="_blank">Eric Granof</a>, recently wrote about that cost in an op-ed for the <a href="http://ht.ly/w2HOd" target="_blank">crime report</a>.<br />
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So let me recap. The conclusions of the NIC report on New Orleans Pretrial Services Program state the following: First, verifying a defendant’s information is NOT important and takes too much time which leads to jail overcrowding. Second, public sector pretrial programs are costly because they must hire more staff if they are going to do an effective job thus eliminating the mythical savings generated from a fixed cost of a jail bed. At the end of the day, I haven’t ever read a report written by a proponent of public sector pretrial release program that provided a better reason for using commercial bail than this one. All I can say is thank you NIC for shedding some light on some important failures of public sector pretrial services. I look forward to hearing your comments. <br />
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Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-74158840711912792682014-04-30T13:40:00.001-07:002014-04-30T13:40:17.627-07:00Public Sector Pretrial Release: When it Comes to FREE Bail, Bigger isn’t Better<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Every week, I make and receive phone calls from agents all over the country sharing the challenges and opportunities they face on a daily basis. Recently one of the most common issues I have heard from agents is the increase in competition they face. Why that doesn’t sound like anything too new or interesting, it actually is. Because the competitor most agents are talking about are not other bail bond agents, but rather public sector pretrial release agencies. <br />
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Now don’t get me wrong, this is not a blog post about the poor bail agent losing business and making less money. Rather, this is a blog post about tax dollars being spent on an inferior product. And for the record, these are tax dollars that don’t have to be spent. Let me explain. <br />
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Last week I spoke with a bail agent in Southern California that had posted a bond for a client. The agent had spent several hours working closely with the family to put together a rock solid bond. After waiting close to 19 hours for the defendant to be released from custody, the agent finally called the clerk at the jail for another update. It was at this point that the clerk informed her that she needed to come and pick up the bond. What had apparently happened is the defendant had been released through a public sector pretrial release program even though they had already obtained release through a bail agent.<br />
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Another agent told me a story how a few weeks back they were with a family on the way to the jail to release their son. The father’s cell phone rang and it was someone from the public sector pretrial services office calling to tell them not to get a bail bond but rather wait and see if their son could be released through their program for FREE. Yes…this really happened…and it is not the first time I have heard this type of story.<br />
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While most people might not see the issue here, there is a pretty big one. Public sector pretrial release programs were designed back in the 1960’s for one purpose…and that is to assist in the release of individuals who were deemed indigent or had special needs (by the way, a concept that the commercial bail industry is fully in support of). So if public sector (taxpayer funded) pretrial release programs were designed for the indigent, than why are they releasing someone who had already been able to financially secure their release? This person was not indigent.<br />
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Once again, this is not about a bail bond agent losing out on a bond. It is about a complete and utter misuse of taxpayer money with little or no thought put towards public safety and the ultimate purpose of pretrial release in the first place, which is to “ensure appearance in court.” Every study ever done on the subject of pretrial release shows that financially secured release through a commercial bail bond is the MOST effective form of ensuring appearance and in the process ensuring accountability. <br />
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So the question becomes then, why are defendants who have already secured release with a bail bond agent, still being let out for FREE through public sector programs? Why are public sector pretrial services employees calling the families of the defendant telling them not to get a commercial bail bond? In times when budgets are slim and public safety is at risk, why are our elected officials allowing our tax dollars to fund and expand these FREE bail programs beyond their intended use when they have been proven time and time again to be ineffective? Why are defendants being told to wait in jail longer (which costs money) instead of bailing out sooner with a commercial bail bond? These are all troubling and very good questions and ones that every taxpayer should be asking their county supervisors and local government leaders. Below is a list of questions that you can send to your local officials. If they can’t answer them, you should demand that they do, because the answers will most likely open their eyes to misguided and ineffective use of public sector pretrial programs. I look forward to your comments.<br />
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<ol>
<li>How many defendants a month are released through your county’s pretrial release program?</li>
<li>How many of those defendants were deemed indigent?</li>
<li>How many of those defendants made all of their court appearances?</li>
<li>How many committed more crime while they were being supervised by a public sector pretrial program?</li>
<li>What happens when someone doesn't show up for court? Who goes and gets them to return?</li>
<li>How much money does your county spend on its pretrial program?</li>
<li>How much money does your county spend when defendants fail to appear? </li>
<li>How much time does it take for a defendant to secure a commercial bail bond and be released?</li>
<li>How much time does it take for a defendant to be released through a public sector pretrial release program?</li>
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I look forward to hearing your comments.</div>
Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-62477211197252036922014-03-13T07:27:00.002-07:002014-03-13T07:27:42.750-07:00An Assessment of the New Orleans Pretrial Services Program is No Assessment at All<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was recently forwarded a new study put out by the National Institute of Corrections. The study was authored by Tara Boh Klute and Lori Eville and was titled “An Assessment of the New Orleans Pretrial Services Program.” As I read this study and thought about its purpose more questions were being raised in my mind than answered. That being said, below are the three big questions and issues that surface for me in this assessment report.<br />
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First, if this report is supposed to be an assessment of the VERA Institute’s efforts in managing the New Orleans pretrial services program than why is the National Institute of Corrections conducting the assessment? Doesn’t the NIC focus on prison populations? I would think that managing a post-conviction prison population is very different than managing a pre-trial jail population. Comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges. It is like asking your gardener to assess how well your house is built. You would think that an organization looking to assess a <b>pretrial release program</b> would at minimum have expertise and experience in what they were trying to assess. That is very obviously not the case here.<br />
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Second, in order for an assessment to be a true assessment you must have a set of meaningful and “relevant” criteria in which you are using to measure the success or failure of what you are assessing. Now, this study does have a set of criteria which it is using to measure the success of the VERA pretrial program, the problem however, is that the criteria being used are meaningless and irrelevant to actually measuring the success or effectiveness of the program. This so called assessment is measuring whether or not VERA’s pretrial release program meets the criteria of the National Association of Pretrial Services Programs. In other words, they are measuring themselves against their own philosophical standards as opposed to truly measuring their effectiveness in getting defendants back to court. Doing a study that says that VERA is doing a great job at following NAPSA’s standards is meaningless if following NAPSA’s standards for pretrial release does nothing to guarantee a defendant’s appearance in court…and by the way, they don’t. In fact, one doesn’t have to look hard to find a study that shows that public sector pretrial service programs are the least effective way to get a defendant back to court. Conducting an assessment in this way would be like grading a student’s test based on whether he brought a pencil and paper to the test as opposed to whether he got the answers correct.<br />
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Lastly, this so called assessment in my opinion is a complete and utter waste of tax dollars. The city of New Orleans has spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on the VERA Institute and its ineffective pretrial release program. What makes this wasteful use of tax dollars even more egregious is that there is a more effective, less expensive private sector option that guarantees its performance to the courts. That option, of course, is commercial bail. It makes no sense at all for the NIC to assess the effectiveness of a program such as this. The City of New Orleans and its taxpaying residents are the ones who have paid for VERA and its failed programs. They should be the ones demanding results and objective measurement not politically driven meaningless assessments. When you hire someone to do a job for you, do you assess how good the job is by how well the vendor did at meeting his own personal standards or do you measure success by how well the vendor did at meeting your standards? The people of New Orleans deserve better. They deserve to see who the VERA institute is letting out of jail for FREE. They deserve to see how these individuals are being assessed and ranked by VERA. They deserve to see VERA’s true measure of success…how many defendants are showing up for court and how many are committing crimes while out on FREE release. These are the criteria that matter; these are the criteria that should be assessed.<br />
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It is time that the public sector starts meeting the same criteria and standards that the private sector has to meet. Instead of paying taxpayer dollars to conduct a meaningless assessment that has no purpose other than to pat an ineffective organization on the back for “trying their best” as opposed to “getting the job done” is wasteful and worse, shameful. <br />
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Remember that I am only scratching the surface here. There is much more to talk about with this assessment, but that will be left for another blog post. I look forward to your comments. Below is a link to the assessment.<br />
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<a href="http://origin.library.constantcontact.com/download/get/file/1101890020432-311/NOLA+pretrial+services+final+report.pdf" target="_blank">An Assessment of New Orleans Pretrial Services</a><br />
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Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-36802858025012889092014-03-06T07:42:00.000-08:002014-03-27T11:13:27.606-07:00Pretrial Risk Assessment: Computers vs. Man, Fantasy vs. Reality<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As technology has advanced over the years, many debates and questions have been asked around the topic of machine versus man. These questions include things like can computers do a task better than a man? Can computers make thoughtful decisions that involve experience and emotion? Can man be as effective and as accurate as a computer without the ability to process and analyze millions of data points? While no one has been able to completely answer these questions, and trust me when I say that I do not plan on answering them in this blog post, I will, however, give my thoughts on the current man vs. machine debate that is happening in the criminal justice system.<br />
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A few weeks back I watched a “Ted Talk” video about risk assessment. In this video, the speaker talked about risk assessments and their likeness to an approach used by the professional baseball team the Oakland Athletics called “moneyball.” The moneyball philosophy (just in case you never saw the Hollywood movie made on the topic) is based on a deep analysis of data and statistics. The theory is that you can use this data to tell you which players you should draft and/or acquire based on their statistical performance in certain situations. For example, should you pay millions of dollars for a big name superstar that hits 50 home runs a year or do you spend a few hundred thousand dollars on a lesser known player that consistently hits for average with runners in scoring position. This analytical approach to baseball has been very beneficial to the Oakland A’s organization allowing them to compete with teams that have much higher salaries and cost structures.<br />
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The question that I would like to raise is does this type of “moneyball” statistical analysis or “risk assessment” as it is referred to in the criminal justice system work like it does in baseball? Is it a fair analysis to equate the two together and through the transitive property assume that both are effective? I would argue no, it is not the same thing.<br />
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The concept of <a href="http://www.pretrialtruth.com/" target="_blank">pretrial release</a> is not something that can be distilled down to common statistics across a broad range of different environments. Every defendant is different; every state is different; every county is different; every criminal act is different; and every reason a person commits a crime in the first place is different. Criminal Justice is not that simple. Additionally, the people who make the ultimate decisions in the criminal justice system are judges. And judges don’t just become judges; they earn a judgeship through experience and practice. Sitting in front of thousands of unique defendants is more valuable to understanding how criminals think and act than just looking at questionnaires and statistics.<br />
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The same goes for the <b>bail bond industry</b>. Bail bond agents deal with thousands upon thousands of defendants. These are defendants that they understand and are familiar with. Why? Because they have grown up and live in the communities that they serve. They know the people; they know the families; they know the employers and the businesses. They have a world of local knowledge and insight that no computer program or public sector pretrial risk assessment can quantify and make sense of. Call it gut or call it experience, but the bail bond industry brings an intangible component to their own decision making process that is not merely about risk assessment but rather about something more important “risk management.” Ultimately when a bail agent decides to financially secure a defendant’s release, they are focused on managing the risk of the defendant and ensuring they show up for court as opposed to just assessing the risk and trying to play a guessing game of whether that person will show up or commit another crime.<br />
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Based on the uniqueness of the criminal justice from locality to locality and the reality of the pretrial world, how can, as the speaker in the video explains, a computer program that spits out a 7 question risk assessment be enough information to accurately claim that a defendant is dangerous to the community and should not be let out of jail pending his trial. In my opinion it can’t for the very reasons I have mentioned above. Computers are not people. They are tools that people use to make a complex task easier. In the world of baseball that might work. In the world of the criminal justice system and <b>pretrial release</b>, where public safety is at stake, I think that these computer modeled risk assessments are a shiny new toy for the <b>public sector pretrial release</b> community to rally around. Why, because they have nothing else. <br />
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If statistics and data are so important, than why doesn't the public sector pretrial community just look at the data that is already in existence. For example, there is plenty of data on pretrial release successes and failures that have been published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The problem is that data doesn’t support pretrial release through a publicly funded pretrial release agency, but rather shows that release through a financially secured commercial bail bond is the most effective way to get defendants back to court. And when that happens, we all know that the public is protected, victims get a chance at justice and the system has accountability.<br />
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Summing things up, should the criminal justice system rely on a moneyball approach to pretrial release? I guess the answer to that question is that the jury is still out, but as far as I know, the Oakland A’s still haven’t won a championship and public sector pretrial release still hasn't outperformed private sector financially secure release…so you decide. I look forward to your comments.Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-1082388181060475362014-02-14T09:00:00.004-08:002014-02-14T09:00:58.016-08:00The Unanswered Question of Bail Reform: Who Pays?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As a follow up to my last blog post, <a href="http://briannairinbail.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-bail-bond-industry-scapegoat-of.html" target="_blank">The Bail Bond Industry: A Scapegoat of Convenience</a>, I wanted to focus this blog post on the question that no one ever seems to want to bring up in the “Bail Reform” discussion. And that question is…Who pays? Whether it is the state of New Jersey wanting to expand its <a href="http://www.pretrialtruth.com/" target="_blank">pretrial services</a> agencies or Maryland’s recent efforts at Bail Reform, public sector pretrial release proponents never seem to be concerned about the real elephant in the room…the money and where will it come from.<br />
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The public sector pretrial community for years has touted the success of the Washington D.C. pretrial services agency. It is the case study that they believe is the perfect pretrial model for success and the blueprint that all counties in the U.S should follow. However, while they tout the amazing success of the program, there is one topic that they do not typically talk about…and that is the money…or as I like to say the most important question you can ask, WHO PAYS? The DC pretrial program monitors 4400 defendants at a whopping cost of $59 million. That is $13,409 per defendant that is spent to supervise defendants and ensure they show up for court (BTW, the commercial bail industry does the same thing at no cost to the taxpayer). Additionally, when a defendant fails to appear, the DC pretrial office has the luxury of having the US Marshall Service at their disposal to go after fugitives. BTW, just for the record the success rate of the DCPSA is 88%. That means 12% of defendants never appear for court. Now compare that to the commercial bail industry which has a 98% success rate. It is really amazing to think that a 12% failure rate is considered a success in the public sector. Just imagine if your airline only got to its destination 88% of the time, or your bank only got your account balance right 88% of the time…would that be acceptable. And just for the record, the person that funds the Washington DC pretrial program…you, the US Taxpayer. <br />
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Now in order for you to fully understand the magnitude of the dollars we are talking about, let me put this in perspective. If you were to apply the $13,409 per defendant to a typical metropolitan county in the US that doesn’t serve 4400 defendants, but rather 20,000 defendants a year that cost balloons to over $268,180,000 to provide ONE typical metropolitan county in the US a DC like pretrial services agency (FYI…there are over 3000 counties in the US). And remember that this typical local county won’t have the resources of the US Marshal Service available to help it track down those defendants that fail to appear. They will instead have to rely on an already overburdened and under resourced local law enforcement agency. What this does is create significant lapses in public safety. Either police have to put aside regular duties to pursue a growing number of fugitive warrants, or they have to ignore the fugitive warrants and go about their regular law enforcement duties to protect the public. Whatever they decide to do, public safety is impacted in a negative way. And please don’t misunderstand my point. It is not law enforcements fault. The fault lies with an ineffective public sector program that costs counties money they don’t have and requires resources that are already overburdened. Additionally, these public sector programs do not have the proper incentives and levels of accountability to perform at the highest level possible as does the private sector (i.e. the <a href="http://www.aiasurety.com/" target="_blank">commercial bail</a> industry). Most importantly, let’s not forget that the commercial bail bond industry is not only the most effective form of pretrial release (proven time and time again by countless research studies and academic papers), but also costs the county $0. And this is a talking point that never seems to come up in the discussion of “bail reform.”<br />
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In a time where local states and county governments are facing tougher and tougher fiscal challenges, the idea of replacing private sector commercial bail with public sector, taxpayer funded pretrial agencies and diversion programs is not only a poor public safety decision, but more importantly also a fiscally irresponsible one. <br />
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What the bail reform movement needs is less pie in the sky ideology, but rather more realistic, evidenced based SOLUTIONS to the problem. Proposing bigger <b>pretrial service programs</b> with bigger budgets doesn’t solve jail overcrowding. Convincing decision makers to get rid of a long standing, effective private sector business like the <b>bail bond industry</b> does not rehabilitate career criminals. Letting more so called “non-violent” offenders out of jail with no supervision and no accountability does not increase public safety. Instead all these types of ideological recommendations do is exacerbate the problems in the system and deflect decision makers from the real problems. And please know that I feel the same way towards more commercial bail. Bail is not the be-all end-all answer to the problems facing our criminal justice system. I am convinced that the answer does not lie with one solution or the other. Rather, I believe that the answer involves all aspects of the criminal justice system to work together. The private sector doing what it does well and the public sector doing what it does well. But to date, instead of trying to solve the real problems of the system, the public sector pretrial community through its <b>“Bail Reform”</b> movement is putting its efforts into creating market share instead of solutions.<br />
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It is time for counties around the country to start approaching the ills of the criminal justice system with a comprehensive approach that truly addresses the roots of the cause of the problems it is facing. Additionally, our decision makers need to start turning to those in the private sector that have the knowledge and experience to help solve some of these challenges in smart, fiscally responsible ways.<br />
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I look forward to your comments.<br />
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<br />Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-68993427470102552662014-02-07T08:06:00.002-08:002014-02-07T08:06:37.226-08:00The Bail Bond Industry: A Scapegoat of Convenience<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A couple weeks ago I read an article out of New Jersey talking about the ills of the criminal justice system and the need for <b>bail reform</b>. The article started with telling the story of a defendant who was released on a reduced bail amount and has since been rearrested for another violent crime. The article then goes on to talk about the many ills of the criminal justice system all couched under the umbrella of the need for “Bail Reform.” The issues identified in the article were: Jails being overcrowded, inmates being warehoused instead of rehabilitated,<b> bail bond agents</b> writing bail with payment plans, and so on. Not only did the article discuss these issues as a need for bail reform but also put the blame for them squarely on the commercial bail industry. After reading the article a couple more times, I felt myself getting more agitated and confused. I kept saying to myself what does this have to do with the bail industry? What have we done to have so much hate and resentment thrown towards our industry by those in the public sector? Why are we being held responsible for the criminal justice system falling short? The only answer, the bail industry was being made a scapegoat of convenience.<br />
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In order to try and rationalize things a bit, I started to breakdown the potential issues one by one and see if this overzealous criticism and finger pointing was deserved or really as misguided as I thought. First, I looked at jail overcrowding. Are people locked up in jail, because they can’t afford a bail bond? Well, if you read into the article a bit you can see that the author is actually says that people are getting out “too easy” with bail through payment plans. But even without payment plans, the concept behind bail is to facilitate the release or make it more attainable for families who can’t afford the full amount of the bail. By assuming part of the financial risk the bail agent not only makes it easier for families to get their loved ones home, but also guarantee to the court that the defendant will show up for ALL court appearances once they are out. So to say that bail causes jail overcrowding couldn't be further from the truth. Also, media coverage has shown us that states like Kentucky, Illinois, Oregon and Wisconsin all have jail overcrowding issues. The interesting point there is that none of those states have <b>commercial bail</b>. So I think we can cross that off the list.<br />
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Next, I looked at the issue of warehousing versus rehabilitation. I tried to figure out where commercial bail plays a role in keeping convicted felons warehoused in jails and prisons instead of rehabilitating them. This one was actually pretty easy to figure out. Bail has nothing to do with warehousing or rehabilitation. Bail is about “appearance.” When a judge makes the determination that a defendant is eligible for pretrial release and sets a bail amount, it becomes the bail agent’s responsibility to ensure that those defendants that they do release on bail show up for ALL of their court appearances. That is it. We guarantee “appearance.” To say that the commercial bail industry has failed to do their job and has caused the current problems in the system is not only a red herring, but also grossly misleading and accusatory. The concept of bail is and always has been about getting defendants to court so that they could be held accountable. And in the history of our modern day criminal justice system, there has yet to be a better form of ensuring a defendant’s appearance than a financially secured bond obtained through a commercial bail agent. Every legitimate study, every independent research report and countless academic articles written on the subject of “pretrial release effectiveness” undeniably support this claim.<br />
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So if the commercial bail industry is not the problem than what is? And then it hit me. That question is not only the fleeting one, but also the answer. No one knows what the problem is. Without trying to truly get a snap shot of the make-up of the pretrial populations and understand the wide range of reasons why people are there, you can’t come up with a real solution to the problem. And you definitely cannot accurately identify what the problem is in the first place. Additionally, if this is the case and the problem is so clearly undefined as it appears to be, than why are states like New Jersey proposing “Bail Reform” in the first place? Why are decision makers proposing to throw millions of dollars of taxpayer funds at a problem that they do not know the actual cause or the most effective solution? I think these are all very important questions and ones that need to be answered by those looking to reform the criminal justice system and abolish commercial bail. (In fact, this topic would make a pretty interesting blog post…hint, hint). <br />
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If we want to truly solve the ills of the criminal justice system there needs to be full and transparent cooperation between the public and private sector pretrial community. In other words, we have to stop creating scapegoats and pointing fingers at each other and instead start solving problems with each other.The commercial bail industry is NOT THE PROBLEM in the criminal justice system. Anyone who thinks so is not trying to solve the problem, but rather trying to discredit a legitimate and effective industry for their own ideological agenda and gain. If all the stakeholders are able to come together (including the commercial bail industry), I am extremely confident that together we could not only solve some of these challenges, but also strike a deeper balance between the social justice and criminal justice sides of the equation that everyone desires. In this way, we can ensure that all parties are contributing to the solution in the best way possible and that ultimately both victims and defendants are getting their day in court, justice is being served and accountability is being maintained for us all. I look forward to reading your comments.Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-91279399131701491822013-12-20T07:34:00.000-08:002014-03-27T11:11:58.361-07:00Public-Private Criminal Justice Collaboration: A Pretrial Service Agency’s Nightmare or A Needed Reality<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have been in the <strong>bail bond business</strong> for a large part of my life. Over the years, I have seen just about everything. In the case of public sector pretrial services and its ongoing and seemingly never ending fight against the commercial bail industry, I have seen them throw countless disparaging comments and fact-less arguments against the wall like cooked spaghetti, only to have most of them slide down the wall and end up on the floor. The most recent of these arguments is linked to the issue of jail overcrowding. According to claims made by the public sector pretrial community, jails are overcrowded because people can’t afford a bail bond. In fact, they claim that 70% of the people in county jails are there because they can’t afford a bail bond. Once again, more spaghetti on the wall…and more spaghetti sliding down and falling on the floor. <br />
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Over the past several months, I have written several blogs outlining why this argument is false. First and foremost, before one can claim that jails are crowded because people can’t afford a <strong>bail bond</strong>, it is important to first understand who is occupying the jails. That being said, if the public sector <strong>pretrial release</strong> community would objectively assess the pretrial populations, they would see that a large majority of pretrial detainees are not even eligible for bail (even though they are in pretrial status). A study completed in 2012 by the JFA Institute showed that while 70% of defendants in the jails were there in pretrial status, however only 12% of them were actually eligible for bail…a far cry from the claim of 70% by those who oppose commercial bail. <br />
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Another reason that this argument doesn’t stick is that several of the states that are currently facing jail overcrowding problems are states that don’t allow commercial bail. This includes Oregon, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Illinois. So if there is no commercial bail and jail overcrowding exists, is it safe to say that commercial bail is not the cause? I would think so.<br />
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As if any further evidence was needed, a couple articles on the bail debate came out earlier this week. One came out of New Jersey and one came out of Montana. While unintended, both of these articles do a good job of confirming my previous two points. The New Jersey article mentioned a 2012 Drug Policy Alliance study that looked at jail populations and determined that not 70%, but rather 12% of defendants were there because they couldn’t afford a bail bond. See the original article here: <a href="http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2013/12/new_jersey_needs_a_fairer_bail.html">http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2013/12/new_jersey_needs_a_fairer_bail.html</a>. These numbers once again show that bail is affordable for most everyone and people’s release is not limited by the cost of a bail bond. The Montana article on the other hand, not only debunks the claims of the public sector pretrial community, but also shines a light on what might be the potential cause of the overcrowding issue. According to research conducted by a jail administer at the Lewis and Clark County Detention Center, it was estimated that 70% of the jail’s population is not comprised of those who can’t afford a bail bond, but rather by those “who have violated the terms of their release on parole or probation.” The administrator goes on to say that, “Many languish away in jail…as the state doesn’t have the resources to deal with them.” Lastly the administrator claims that, “A lack of public defenders contributes to jail overcrowding.” See the original article here: <a href="http://helenair.com/news/local/prisoner-overcrowding-at-county-detention-center-causing-concerns-financial-stress/article_518a844c-6554-11e3-a453-0019bb2963f4.html">http://helenair.com/news/local/prisoner-overcrowding-at-county-detention-center-causing-concerns-financial-stress/article_518a844c-6554-11e3-a453-0019bb2963f4.html</a>. As you can see, the problems linked to <strong>overcrowded jails</strong> are not as simple as the public sector pretrial community would like you to think…and they are definitely not caused by the commercial bail industry.<br />
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It is time for the public sector to stop trying to discredit the bail bond industry with its barrage of shifting arguments that never seem to stick. Instead, wouldn’t it be better for them to put the valuable tax dollars they receive into constructive discussions with the private sector commercial bail industry to determine the most effective way to manage defendants? A collaboration of this kind would not be something new. In fact there has been a growing trend lately of public, private and social entities working together to solve problems. A new book entitled “The Solution Revolution” by William Eggers and Paul Macmillan talks about many of these types of collaborations. Isn’t it time that we put our differences aside and embrace each other’s strengths to create the best result as opposed to just continuing to throw spaghetti, point the finger and hope someone listens? I look forward to your thoughts.Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-48589398239604734702013-11-18T10:43:00.000-08:002014-03-27T11:11:40.564-07:00A New Game in Town: Bailing Out Chicago with Commercial Bail<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Bailing Out Chicago with Commercial Bail<br />This past weekend there was an interesting story out of Cook County, Illinois. The story was about the overcrowding of Cook County’s jails. The most intriguing part of this story, at least to me, is that there is no <a href="http://www.aiasurety.com/" target="_blank">commercial bail bond industry</a> to point the finger at. Why…because in Illinois, there are no commercial bail bond agents. As shocking as that might sound to those in the public sector <a href="http://www.pretrialtruth.com/" target="_blank">pretrial release</a> industry, the commercial bail industry is not a cause of jail overcrowding. In fact, it is rather a very good solution…and one that 46 other states in the country use to not only manage their pretrial jail populations, but more importantly ensure that defendants show up for court (which by the way, is the intended purpose of pretrial release in the first place). That being the case, then why doesn’t Illinois just turn to the bail industry to help them? That is a very good question.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Currently in Illinois, defendants are able to get out of jail pretrial by two methods. First, they can be released on their own recognizance. That is when a defendant is let out of jail with their promise to appear (in other words, with no financial security). Second, the defendant can put up 10% of the bond amount with the court coupled with their promise that they will return for trial. If they don’t appear at all court cases, they must pay full amount of the bond. While in theory the second option sounds like it would be effective (especially since it is very similar to the private sector commercial bail model), but the reality is that it is not effective at all. What causes this 10% model to fail is that defendants know that if they don’t show up, no one will come and get them. They know that they system is so overwhelmed and that there aren’t enough resources to go after them. What this leads to is a criminal culture with no accountability. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Enter the <strong>commercial bail bond industry</strong>. If Cook County were to allow commercial bail bond agents to be a third option for defendants and their families, here is what would happen. More defendants could secure their release, because bail agents provide payment plans and flexibility to defendants making bail more attainable. Next, appearance rates would improve substantially because more defendants would show up for court, because a private sector bail agent would be financially responsible for their appearance (or they would have to pay the full amount of the bond). Also, by using commercial bail, Cook County could not only save money, but generate money from the bail industry. By getting defendants to court, the commercial <strong>bail bond</strong> industry would save the county an enormous amount of money in wasted resources and processes (when a defendant doesn’t show up for trial, the courts absorb the lost cost in time and resources spent to have that trial…Dallas County saved over $11 million in this exact way by using commercial bail). Additionally, the commercial bail industry would pay premium taxes to the state as well as pay bond forfeitures (which can go to the state and/or county)…all which are additional revenue for an already cash strapped system. Lastly, the commercial bail industry ensures the rights of victims and gives them the best chance at justice by ensuring the defendant appears at court. If the defendant does not appear then the victim is re-victimized and gets no chance at justice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Instead of looking for ways to spend more tax payer dollars, shouldn’t Cook County look for ways to make the system more efficient and more effective. Maybe it’s time to look at allowing private sector commercial bail back into the state and improving what is an obviously ineffective approach to criminal justice. Maybe it’s time that Illinois look at improving its criminal justice system and the guaranteeing of the rights of defendants, victims and the public. If you have the time, please take a few moments and visit the following site and vote “No” on using more taxpayer dollars to release defendants in Cook County.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://newsone.com/2777833/taxpayer-dollars-bail-out-inmates/">http://newsone.com/2777833/taxpayer-dollars-bail-out-inmates/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I look forward to your comments.</span><br />
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<br />Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-79663933553555430982013-09-11T16:09:00.001-07:002014-03-27T11:12:49.570-07:00Bail Month – Pretrial Service Agencies on the Attack While Ignoring their Own Failures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As we move further along in the Pretrial Justice Institute’s self-declared Bail Month, I wanted to point out a recent story out of Minnesota that I believe should open people’s eyes to the real failures of the pretrial community. This morning the Star Tribune published an article about the 100s of people with mental illness languishing away in Minnesota jails. Now, it is important to understand that this is not an article that the Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI) was behind. Nor was it a story that the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) was behind. How do I know? I know, because it doesn’t point the finger at commercial bail as the cause and the problem. And just for the record, they definitely wouldn’t be behind this story, because it is ultimately reporting on the failures of their own programs. As most people know, the pretrial community (especially groups like PJI and JPI) isn’t much for discussing the real issues around the criminal justice system. Instead these two organizations would rather spend valuable tax dollars (which they are constantly complaining about not having enough of) and private donor dollars to publically defame and disqualify one of the most effective components of the criminal justice system…and yes, I am talking of course about the commercial bail industry.<br />
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The interesting and troubling thing to me about this article (which can be viewed here… <a href="http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/222828641.html" target="_blank">"Left in limbo, hundreds of Minnesotans with mental illness languish in jail”</a> ) is that it really opened my eyes to the real misguided motivation of the <a href="http://www.pretrialtruth.com/" target="_blank">pretrial</a> community. And I say misguided because, personally, I honestly believe there is a purpose and role for pretrial services in helping people with special needs, but unfortunately in reality that purpose and role goes unfulfilled. <br />
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For example, according to the article, “on any given day, the Hennepin County jail holds 100-200 inmates with severe psychiatric disorders. That represents ¼ of the jail’s population, and they languish there, on average for three months before getting proper psychiatric care.” Notice how they don’t mention that those people are there because they can’t afford a bail bond.<br />
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Now I am under the impression that Pretrial Service Agencies were created to assist and manage these types of populations. They were designed to assist the truly indigent…those without means and without connections to family…those who have mental health issue or substance dependency/abuse issues. But the problem is they are failing when it comes to this mission. Instead they have taken their eye off the ball and focused it squarely on the commercial bail industry. Nowhere can I ever recall seeing something about the intent of pretrial services (when it was first conceived) to be about people should not have to pay for a <strong>bail bond</strong>. It has always been about making sure that those that need help get it. So why today is the sole purpose and mission of the pretrial community to eliminate money bail? Why are they so focused and committed to eliminating us as a pretrial release mechanism (especially when it has been proven time and time again to be the most effective way to ensure appearance)? Why are they so focused, that they would spend countless taxpayer dollars designating an entire month to spreading lies and negative stories about the bail industry? Wouldn’t it seem more appropriate to having a month dedicated to helping the people being held with mental disorders? Wouldn’t it be more beneficial and appropriate to have month dedicated to honoring the pretrial community’s successes in helping people with substance abuse issues? Those are the questions that I believe people want answered. Those are the questions that I believe the pretrial community needs to answer and should be answering.<br />
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Imagine if the pretrial community focused on achieving the mission on which they were first created…to helping those that can’t help themselves. Our jails might be a different place and our tax dollars might be going towards good as opposed to going towards public relations efforts and smear campaigns. <br />
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So here are my recommendations to both JPI and PJI. Designate a month dedicated to improving public safety. Reach out to the commercial bail industry and find ways to work together to make sure that the people in the system get the help they need. Acknowledge the role and <a href="http://www.aiasurety.com/" target="_blank">effectiveness of commercial bail</a> and show how the public is being protected more effectively when people are released on financially secured bail. If pretrial would to reach out in this way, I know that the bail community would reciprocate and acknowledge the role and effectiveness of pretrial services. <br />
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I honestly believe that if these things could happen, then the criminal justice system would be in a better place. Together we can be a positive force that is maintaining the proper level of accountability for those who are not indigent and taking care of those in a smart responsible way that are and need assistance. It is time to stop persecuting and smearing the commercial bail industry and time to start embracing us as a partner.<br />
<br />Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-45371588961062891512013-09-04T11:34:00.001-07:002014-03-27T11:11:19.331-07:00September is “Bail Month”…How to Celebrate With the Facts<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I was pleasantly surprised this week when I was forwarded an announcement from the Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI) declaring the month of September, "Bail Month." Initially I thought, what a great idea, a whole month dedicated to discussing the <a href="http://www.expertbail.com/" target="_blank">benefits of commercial bail</a> and sharing the facts on the effectiveness of the industry. Especially since there is so much data available to PJI and their partner the Justice Policy Institute (JPI)…data that shows how effective commercial bail is and how <a href="http://www.pretrialtruth.com/" target="_blank">ineffective pretrial programs</a> are. To add to the excitement, earlier this month the Bureau of Justice Statistics declared 2013 the year of statistics. Wow, a month dedicated to bail and a year dedicated to statistics, I can’t think of better environment to start a conversation about the commercial bail bond industry. Let’s see, with so much research to share, where do you think the PJI and JPI partnership will begin? Here are some good places they might consider…and just so you know when I say “places” I am talking about the volumes of research studies that they can tap into and share. For example, there is:<br />
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<li>The Bureau of Justice Statistics studies spanning 14 years (1990-2004) of release data in the country’s 75 most populous counties. These studies (year after year) showed that commercial bail was the most effective form of pretrial release for both appearance and reduced recidivism.</li>
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<li>The Tabarrok study, which assessed the failure to appear rates of several different types of pretrial release mechanisms, determined that commercial bail was the most effective way to prevent an FTA and ensure a defendants appearance in court.</li>
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<li>The ALEC study completed in 1995 that assessed the failure to appear rate in California’s three largest counties and determined that commercial bail was the most effective form of release.</li>
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<li>The ALEC study completed in 1997 that calculated a cost for a failure to appear in California’s three largest counties and determined that Pretrial release programs were potentially costing the counties millions of dollars.</li>
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<li>The JFA Institute Study completed in 2012 that shows that a very small portion (13%) of those in pretrial status in Los Angeles County are eligible for bail and that the jails are not crowded because people are languishing away unable to afford a bail bond.</li>
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<li>The University of Texas at Dallas Study that looked at 22,000 releases during 2008 and compared 4 types of release mechanisms, ultimately determining that commercial bail was the most effective way to ensure that defendants show up for court. An additional finding from this study was that the cost of an FTA was discovered to be approximately $1800 per defendant. Using that cost figure, it was determined that commercial bail saved Dallas County over $11 Million.</li>
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With so much research available to them, and remember it is the “Year of Statistics,” I wonder which study they will use. Okay, to be honest, we all know which of the above studies they will end up using… NONE OF THEM. So then the next question is what studies will they use that aren’t on the list above? Once again, the answer is unfortunately and very predictably NONE. Why? Because no study exists or has ever been done that shows that releasing a defendant through a pretrial program is more effective than commercial bail. <br />
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So then why would PJI and JPI declare that September is Bail Month? That is a good question? The answer of course is not to promote bail, or even promote pretrial (because it is hard to do that without any statistics…and remember, 2013 is the year of statistics, right?). The answer is that the pretrial community is going to ramp up their taxpayer funded anti–bail propaganda machine to once again spread lies and mis-information about the commercial bail industry (much like last year’s efforts which resulted in the creation of the <a href="http://www.americanbailcoalition.com/" target="_blank">War on Public Safety</a> document by the American Bail Coalition).<br />
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The most unfortunate thing about this is that the pretrial community isn’t doing this because it benefits local communities and law enforcement. They aren’t doing this to educated people on the benefits and effectiveness of pretrial release (because that would make sense…and also, because we know that is too difficult to fabricate). They aren’t doing this because it benefits crime victims and various advocacy groups. And they are definitely not doing this because it saves counties money and lowers recidivism rates. Then why, you ask? Because it serves the purpose of the pretrial supporters. In their mind, they need to constantly justify how good they are by declaring how bad commercial bail is, and in doing so they are able to feel good about themselves. The problem is feeling good about yourself and just saying you’re better doesn’t make you better. <br />
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If the pretrial community wants to declare September “Bail Month” then I think the bail community should fully embrace and endorse their call to action. I move that during the month of September that the bail industry dispense and share “our” collective knowledge and research with those in the criminal justice system. We need to make sure that the real “statistics” are being shared so that local jurisdictions can make the best criminal justice decisions possible. It is time for the bail community to stand up and be heard and I can’t think of a better time to do so. After all, it is Bail Month. <br />
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If you would like to receive copies of any of the above research studies, please visit our <a href="http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1201235/Bail-Bond-Agent-Resources" target="_blank">bail bond resource library</a> and select which studies you are interested in.Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-42804528369074257582013-05-14T08:06:00.002-07:002014-03-27T11:10:52.437-07:00Buildings, Contracts and Bail Bonds: Does Your County "Insure" Everything but Public Safety<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of the things that people understand least about the <a href="http://www.aiasurety.com/" target="_blank">commercial bail bond industry</a> is that it is a segment of the insurance industry. Much like any auto, home or health insurance company, in most states, bail bond insurance companies and their agents are regulated and licensed by the state’s Department of Insurance. This is because a bail bond is in essence an insurance policy. It is a policy taken out by a defendant’s family (in most situations) that guarantees the appearance of the defendant in court. If the defendant fails to appear, the policy ultimately goes into a “claim” status and the state or local jurisdiction is paid the amount of the policy, which is the full amount of the bond. The insurance agent in this simple transaction is the bail bond agent. Pretty straight forward stuff if you think about it.<br />
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The <strong>bail industry</strong> is part of a larger group of insurers called <strong>commercial sureties</strong>. These are insurance companies that provide unique types of policies (surety bonds) that guarantee the performance of something. The most common is a policy or bond that a company or individual gets to ensure performance in accordance with the conditions of a contract. For example, a construction bond guarantees that a builder will complete a project in accordance with the terms or the original agreement. There are literally hundreds of different types of <strong>surety bonds</strong> that sureties underwrite at the state and local level every day. As I mentioned earlier, <strong>bail bonds</strong> are a surety product and fall into this category of insurance.<br />
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Now, most county and state governments are required by statute to obtain a surety performance bond in pretty much any and every activity they are involved with when it comes to spending tax dollars. This includes hiring a contractor or vendor, building a highway, tearing down an old building, revitalizing a neighborhood and so on. Why do they do this? Because they don’t want contractors and vendors taking advantage of them and the taxpayers. They want to ensure that what they are asking for is what is going to get done. Makes sense, right? Absolutely!<br />
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Well here is a question then…if the government is so careful about ensuring that the new addition for the courthouse or the new school gymnasium are built by a company that has provided a guarantee of performance through a surety bond, than why do they not require the same types of guarantee and financial security in situations involving public safety and the criminal justice system? The response you might hear is that these types of financially secured bonds are complicated and don’t really relate to the <strong>criminal justice system</strong>. My answer to that type of thinking is that it is completely wrong. <br />
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These types of financially secured bonds are not complicated and they absolutely do make sense in the criminal justice system. Every family of every defendant in every court house around the country has available to them a number of local bail bond agents that can easily and affordably provide them with one of these <a href="http://www.aiasurety.com/" target="_blank">financially secured surety bonds</a> (or <strong>bail bonds</strong> as most people know them). From the county’s perspective, if you are going to release a defendant from jail before their trial on the condition that they show up for court, doesn’t it make sense to financially secure that release with a guarantee of performance? Don’t you want to guarantee the performance of that defendant so that he is held accountable for his actions, just like you want to ensure that the contractor building your new courthouse is being held accountable for meeting the specs of his contract and meeting agreed upon expectations? Isn’t public safety important enough to assure via use of a <strong>bail bond</strong> in most release cases?<br />
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It does not take a lot of common sense to draw the connection between these two things. Counties see the value in ensuring the performance of every dollar they spend. That being the case, shouldn’t the same type of thinking apply to letting defendants out of jail? Think about the options that are now available to the courts. First is <strong>commercial bail</strong>, an option that has been part of our criminal justice system for years and that costs the counties nothing. When a defendant is let out on a commercial bail bond, the county is being provided with an insurance policy financially guaranteeing the appearance of the defendant in court. Compare that with <strong>own recognizance release</strong> through a <a href="http://www.pretrialtruth.com/" target="_blank">pretrial release program</a>, an option that does cost the county taxpayer dollars, and which has no financial security or guarantee. In your opinion, which option makes the most sense? Which option is holding the defendant accountable? Which option is protecting the integrity of the criminal justice system? Which option does a better job of protecting the public? Which option follows the same line of thinking as other types of surety bonds counties and states require? The answer is pretty clear. The answer is commercial bail.<br />
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If the county and state were to approach all expenditures in the same way and take the same type of stance towards financially protecting their investments and securing the performance of an entity, shouldn’t they do the same with the <strong>criminal justice system</strong>? Shouldn’t they be turning to commercial bail to financially guarantee that defendants show up for court? Shouldn’t they be turning to commercial bail to responsibly and effectively reduce jail populations and keep the system running smoothly and efficiently? Shouldn’t they be utilizing the option that does these things without costing the taxpayer one cent? I look forward to your thoughts. Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-87528018215601321122013-05-01T15:11:00.001-07:002014-03-27T11:10:30.162-07:00Pretrial Services – Defining Success by Failing More Than 20% of the Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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What if you only showed up for work 4 out of 5 days a week? Would that be acceptable to your employer? What if you only paid 4 out of every 5 bills you received from your local utility? Would they still keep your power on? What if you only completed 79% of your tax return? Would the IRS let you get away with it? The easy answer to all these questions is ABSOLUTELY NOT! <br />
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So you are probably asking why I am asking such common sense questions. Well, the truth is what is common sense to most of us is unfortunately not common sense to others. For example, just this past weekend, an article was written in the <a href="http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130428/OPINION04/304280068/Judge-David-P-Bowles-Making-decisions-bail" target="_blank">Courier-Journal</a> touting the incredible success of the pretrial services program in Jefferson County, Kentucky. A state that you may or may not know that does not allow commercial bail. According to a Jefferson County District Court judge, the <a href="http://www.pretrialtruth.com/" target="_blank">Pretrial Service Agency</a> in his county gets High-Risk defendants back to court “an amazing 79% of the time….” Really? Amazing? Twenty-one percent of the time, the defendant is pretty much ignoring the authority of the system and doing whatever they want, and that, according to the judge is “amazing” and defines “success?” Interesting and disturbing to say the least.<br />
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The article goes on to show some math to support the so called success of the Pretrial Services Agencies. However, if you are a common sense person, it is really hard to define these numbers as “success.” According to the article, 35,186 people obtained <strong>pretrial release</strong> in Jefferson County. Each of these individuals went through a so called <strong>evidenced based risk assessment</strong> by the local Pretrial Services Agency. Thirteen percent of low-risk defendants did not show up for court….does that sound like success? Twenty percent of medium risk defendants did not show up for court…does that sound like success? Twenty one percent of high-risk defendants did not show up for court…once again, does that sound like success? To the pretrial folks, sure, it is great. But to the community it is absolutely not. Especially when almost 20% of the high-risk defendants are re-offending…in other words, several thousand defendants who have been released under pretrial services’ imaginary veil of supervision are ignoring the authority of the courts and in the process are running free to commit more crimes and victims. And all this happens at a serious financial and social cost to the county and state. When people fail to appear for court there is a huge financial cost that accompanies that act. In Dallas, Texas that cost was found to be over $1,700 per defendant. Applying that number to Jefferson County, based on a failure to appear rate of over 21% for just high risk defendants, the cost to Jefferson County is easily in the millions of dollars.<br />
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What makes this story even more disturbing is that this ineffective and costly system of managing criminal defendants (on both the front and back end of the process) is funded 100% by taxpayer dollars. Yes, those taxpayers in Jefferson County, Kentucky are paying for a government run Pretrial Service Agency to fail 20% of the time. And just for the record, when these 20% of high-risk defendants don’t show up for court, who do you think goes and gets them? Who is held accountable and pays the court when they don’t show up? The answer is no one. Why? Because there is no skin in the game and no accountability by any party involved (pretrial services or the defendant). When a defendant fails to appear, Pretrial Service Agencies have nothing to lose. The court just issues a bench warrant and it becomes the responsibility of already overburdened law enforcement to get him…which usually happens after they have committed an additional crime.<br />
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There is definitely not a simple solution to the challenges facing criminal justice systems like Kentucky. However, there is a more effective solution. A solution that is currently in practice in 46 other states; A solution that gets defendants back to court better than any other form of pretrial release; A solution that does not cost the taxpayers a single dollar; A solution that actually generates revenue for the county and state through premium taxes and forfeiture payments; A solution that is based on a real risk assessment and is evidenced based; A solution that lowers recidivism and better protects the community; and finally, a solution that gives <a href="http://www.expertbail.com/national-crime-victim-assistance-search" target="_blank">crime victims a chance at justice</a>. This solution is the commercial bail bond industry. It is time for states like Kentucky to start considering ways to more responsibly and effectively maintain the accountability of their criminal justice system and protect the public interest of its communities.<br />
<br />Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-4113145934002557372013-04-03T14:58:00.000-07:002014-03-27T11:10:07.996-07:00The Blame Game: When All Else Fails, Blame the Bail Bond Industry<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xw8SXzVXiGU/UVylNOMsOZI/AAAAAAAAABk/U1rCrT8p1H0/s1600/pointing+fingers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xw8SXzVXiGU/UVylNOMsOZI/AAAAAAAAABk/U1rCrT8p1H0/s1600/pointing+fingers.jpg" /></a>You don’t have to search long and hard nowadays to find a news story on <a href="http://www.expertbail.com/resources/bail-industry-news/more-of-the-same-pretrial-release-lies-and-bail-bond-truths" target="_blank">jail overcrowding</a>. It seems like county jails all over the country are facing the similar challenge of how to deal with increasing populations and decreasing budgets. While no formal in-depth research study has been conducted to determine the real causes of jail overcrowding, the pretrial services community hasn’t been shy about playing the blame game. In fact, a key pillar of their current narrative is that the jails are crowded because of the <a href="http://www.aiasurety.com/" target="_blank">commercial bail bonding</a> industry. They throw around statistics like 70%-80% of people occupying county jails are there with a pretrial status. And these people are sitting there, languishing away in jail because they can’t afford to pay a <strong>bail bondsman</strong>. While this simple argument might seem to make sense on the surface, it is a completely false and misguided statement. In fact, it doesn’t take much analysis at all to debunk this pretrial services generated propaganda and myth.<br />
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First, the very study that is being used by the pretrial community to substantiate their claim that 70% of pretrial detainees are in jail pretrial is also the same study that can be used to discredit the claim. In April of 2012, the JFA Institute conducted a study to look at the effects of AB109 and jail overcrowding in Los Angeles County. The study was requested and funded by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The study does show that approximately 70% of those in LA County jails are there in pretrial status. What the study also shows however is that the majority of those defendants are not in what they call “pure pretrial” status. Within that 70% are people who are on specific types of holds, which make them non-bailable. When all is said and done the number of people eligible to bail out with a commercial bail bond drops substantially. In a snapshot taken of LA County Jail’s pretrial population, they found 10,545 detainees in pretrial status. Once you eliminate those that have a hold or that are determined to be too violent to release, the number of pretrial detainees that are eligible for bail drop to just over 1,300…or about 13%. So to say that jails are crowded because of this 13% of detainees is not only false and misleading, but an obvious case of intentional finger pointing. <br />
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Second, in the last month, there have been multiple news stories out of four specific states that are all dealing with jail overcrowding issues. These states are Kentucky, Oregon, Wisconsin and Illinois. While this might not seem that significant to most, it actually is very significant, since none of these four states allow commercial bail bonds. In other words, how are jails overcrowded in these states if there is no commercial bail…unless, of course, commercial bail isn’t the cause of jail overcrowding. <br />
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Lastly, a primary purpose of county jails is to process and house pretrial defendants. So, to say that the majority of the populations occupying these jails are defendants that are in pretrial status makes perfect sense. However, there is a challenge being created by the misrepresentation and misuse of this narrative. Currently the <a href="http://www.pretrialtruth.com/" target="_blank">pretrial services</a> community is using “jail overcrowding” as a premise to falsely justify the release of individuals that the jails were designed to hold in the first place, and doing so in ways that are both focused and concerned more with population reduction than with public safety or appearance (which by the way are two of the most important aspects of any pretrial release method).<br />
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What our counties need to do is to find new innovative ways to manage and supervise those that make up these pretrial populations. While a portion of them (approximately 13% in LA County) have the ability to quickly, easily and safely be released with a financially secured commercial bail bond, there are still a number of pretrial defendants (up to 87%) that do not initially qualify and need an alternative “safe” release option. And when I say “safe release” option, I am not referring to a release option that doesn’t involve the concept of personal accountability like own recognizance release or release through a pretrial services agency. I am talking about a pretrial release solution that incorporates the effectiveness and efficiency of the commercial bail industry. I am talking about a release option that financially guarantees that the person will show up for their day in court and in the process meets all of the conditions of their release. I am talking about a release option that maintains, protects and ensures the credibility and concept of accountability in our criminal justice system. Currently the commercial bail industry does an extremely effective job in managing the release and appearance of a small portion of these jail populations. If the counties want to effectively and safely release more of these defendants, then it makes sense to utilize a tried and proven industry like commercial bail to do so. <br />
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What I would like to see are the counties, <strong>pretrial services agencies</strong>, <strong>the bail bond industry</strong> and all key stakeholders come together to candidly and constructively talk about this challenge. I would like to see all parties come together to devise and propose “realistic” alternative release solutions that don’t exclude commercial bail but rather focus more on inclusion and our ability to contribute insights and experience to the situation. What I would like to see is a group of stakeholders focused more on results and less on assigning blame. I look forward to your thoughts and comments.Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-50087227123893047612013-03-07T05:04:00.000-08:002014-03-27T11:09:38.763-07:00How to Save Your County Money…Use a Bail Bond AgentIf you are involved in the criminal justice system then you are probably aware of two of the most widely discussed challenges facing many counties and jurisdictions today, shrinking budgets and overcrowded jails. While research has shown that jail populations are actually down for the third year in a row nationally, there are still many counties/jurisdictions around the country that are facing these two difficult issues. In order for these counties/jurisdictions to figure out the most effective and long term solution to these problems, I believe that they need to answer two important questions. First, who is currently in jail? In other words, what type of defendants make up the pretrial population? Second, what are the real costs associated with the pretrial process? Is it the cost of incarceration or are there additional costs we should be focusing on?<br />
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Let’s start with pretrial populations. If we are to truly understand why jails are crowded, we need to first understand who is in jail and why they are there. I have talked about this in previous blog posts, but I thought it would be important to mention it again here. Those in the <a href="http://www.pretrialtruth.com/" target="_blank">pretrial services</a> community believe the jails are crowded because those being held can’t afford to pay a bail bond agent. In fact, they claim that anywhere from 60%-70% of those sitting in jail awaiting trial are there because they can’t afford a bail bond. I am not sure where they get that statistic, but one thing that I do know is that people sitting in jail, are not there solely because they cannot afford a<strong> bail bond</strong>. When someone is booked into a jail and given a “pretrial” status, they can fall into a number of different sub-classifications. For example, here is a short list of these different types of defendants that make up these pretrial populations. There are:<br />
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- Defendants there on immigration holds….these defendants are not bailable<br />
- Defendants there awaiting transfer to another jail…these defendants are not bailable<br />
- Defendants there who have been arrested for a probation violation…these defendants are not <br />
bailable <br />
- Defendants that have been determined by the judge to be too great of a risk (flight and/or <br />
danger to community) to award bail<br />
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These are just a few of the types of defendants in the pretrial population. As you can see, it is not just defendants who can’t afford a bail bond. Additionally, through financing and payment plans, families are able to acquire the services of a bail agent more easily today than they have ever been able to previously. What the criminal justice system needs is an in-depth study of who is in jail (what type of defendant, and why they are or aren’t able to secure release). This research will show us what the real problem is and allow us to focus resources specifically on that issue.<br />
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The next issue is the cost of incarceration. For as long as I can remember, the argument of the pretrial community has been that people who are being held pretrial cost taxpayers a lot of money. I have seen a wide range of estimates ranging anywhere from $40-$90 a day. And if it wasn’t for commercial bail, these people could be released through a pretrial services agency more readily and save the county these important dollars. What the pretrial community forgets to include in this math equation of course, is the cost of their program to the community. They might be saving money by releasing folks out of jail for FREE, but they are costing the county money by having a pretrial program in the first place. All the while, commercial bail costs the county nothing. That fact aside, I believe that there is a much bigger cost that is not being considered in this decision. This cost is related to when a defendant who is released pretrial doesn’t show up for court. This cost was brought to light in a compelling way in a recent independent research study done out of the University of Texas at Dallas. This study looked at over 22,000 pretrial releases in Dallas County, Texas during 2008. The study not only assessed the effectiveness of different types of releases, but more importantly assigned a cost to the county for every person who was released and didn’t show up for court. That cost was determined to be over $1,780 per defendant. Taking that into consideration, it really begins to change the landscape of cost savings in the system. No longer does the cost on the front end of the process need to be considered, but even more importantly now the cost on the back-end needs to be considered. <br />
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Once you understand this, you can begin to see the importance of which form of release is utilized. You want to make sure that defendants are let out in a timely manner, while at the same time you want to make sure that you let them out through the most effective form of release. Well that form of release, hands down is commercial bail. It has been proven time and time again by countless studies, including the recent University of Texas at Dallas study, to outperform all other forms of release. So next time the county is trying contemplate letting a defendant out through pretrial services or a commercial bail bond agent, they should consider the cost of a jail bed on the front end, but even more importantly they absolutely should consider the more than $1,780 cost to the county on the backend if that defendant fails to appear for court. In my opinion, there has never been a better piece of research available to stakeholders and decision makers to better understand the value and importance of the <a href="http://www.aiasurety.com/" target="_blank">commercial bail industry</a> and its effectiveness is saving costs in the criminal justice system.Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-65230963036562944012013-02-12T15:17:00.000-08:002014-03-27T11:09:06.717-07:00Pretrial Services: My Old Kentucky Home is Actually a Crowded Jail Cell <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oU-ts42bCyY/UYgwbBLiKjI/AAAAAAAAACE/NRcsK0N4bLk/s1600/kentuckyhome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oU-ts42bCyY/UYgwbBLiKjI/AAAAAAAAACE/NRcsK0N4bLk/s320/kentuckyhome.jpg" height="238" width="320" /></a></div>
In the United States there are four states that legally do not allow commercial bail. These states are Oregon, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Illinois. If you were to listen to those in the <a href="http://www.pretrialtruth.com/" target="_blank">pretrial release</a> community, they would have you believe that these four states are perfect utopias of criminal justice. Why are these states so much better off than the rest of the country? Once again, according to the pretrial community, it is because there is no commercial bail. If we decide to accept that argument, we can only assume that these four states must have the lowest fugitive rates in the country. These four states must have jails that are practically empty, because no one is languishing away in them unable to afford a bail bond. Well, one thing I have learned in my long experience in the bail bond industry is that if it looks too good to be true, then the pretrial community must be behind it. <br />
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For as long as I can remember, the argument against the commercial bail industry has been that commercial bail is the cause of jail overcrowding and costs the counties and taxpayers money. According to these commercial bail opponents, people in jail who are only “accused” of a crime (forgetting the concept of probable cause of course) are languishing away in jail because they can’t afford a bail bond. Well if this is so, then I would like the pretrial community to explain why the state of Kentucky, which by the way, they claim as a poster child to how pretrial works best, just received a grant (more taxpayer dollars) to help with the problem of…yes, I am going to say it…JAIL OVERCROWDING (see <a href="http://www.wdrb.com/story/20979569/mayor-asks-for-help-from-geeks-to-ease-jail-overcrowding" target="_blank">article here</a>). Wait a second. Kentucky can’t possibly have a jail overcrowding problem because they don’t have a commercial bail system. It really makes you wonder doesn’t it? It seems to me whatever theory that the pretrial community has been building its house of cards on is about to crumble. <br />
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What I would like to see is a real pretrial release study in Kentucky. Instead of spending more tax dollars to determine what we already know, which is, that the jails are overcrowded because pretrial release does not work as the primary form of release, let’s try bringing the <a href="http://www.aiasurety.com/" target="_blank">commercial bail industry</a> in and see what happens. Since we know that the pretrial community would never allow this to happen, let me tell you what would unfold given that scenario. With commercial bail, people who are arrested would be able to be released with a financially secured commercial bail bond. Since the defendant is only putting up 10% of the bail amount, it is much more affordable than the full amount of the bond provided by the full cash option. Also, bail agents in many cases may provide financing terms, making bail affordable to pretty much everyone. Once people are released from jail, they will be required to meet a set of criteria established by the court, the bondsman and the family. These criteria are designed to ensure the defendant’s appearance, but also have a halo effect on their behavior. This halo effect is created by financially tying a third party (family) to the release contract (a unique component of commercial surety bail). In doing so you get an extra level of oversight on the defendant that other forms of release do not have. This extra level of oversight, coupled with the knowledge of the defendant that a bail bond agent will come get you if you don’t show up for court, is what makes commercial bail so effective. <br />
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The ultimate result of this research would be that commercial bail not only does a better job at getting people to court (and this has been proven time and time again) but also, that commercial bail does a better job in working with the criminal justice system to manage jail populations. Oh yeah, and by the way, commercial bail does not cost the county a single dime. It actually generates positive revenue for the county or state through premium taxes paid by the insurance companies, court fees, forfeiture payments, etc. At the same time, commercial bail saves the county money by ensuring defendants appear in court. It was just shown in a recent <a href="http://www.expertbail.com/resources/bail-industry-news/bail-bond-companies-save-dallas-countys-criminal-justice-system-time-and-money" target="_blank">independent research study on pretrial release</a> completed by the University of Texas at Dallas that commercial bail is not only the most effective form of pretrial release (with pretrial service agencies being the worst) but also the most cost effective as it saved the county over $11 million in costs associated with people not appearing for court.<br />
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So let’s summarize…commercial bail helps counties better manage and cycle jail populations. Commercial bail generates positive revenue for states and counties while saving potentially millions of taxpayer dollars. Commercial bail outperforms all other forms of pretrial release in getting defendants to show up for court. Commercial bail lowers recidivism rates by financially binding a third party to the bail contract creating an added level of oversight by a vested third party. Maybe these reasons are why the state of Oregon’s Legislature is currently considering the re-introduction of commercial bail back into the system. Maybe these are the reasons why the City of Philadelphia has turned to commercial bail to help clean up their criminal justice system. Maybe these are the reasons why Wisconsin introduced a bill last legislative session that looked at re-introducing commercial bail back in to the state. If you ask me, the answer is pretty obvious. Commercial bail works. Kentucky should stop wasting money on trying to find ways to justify the existence of its overfunded underperforming pretrial programs, but rather try to find ways, whatever they might be (including commercial bail) to solve the issues within their crowded jails and inefficient criminal justice system.<br />
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I look forward to your comments.Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1063716325300920261.post-33884477295844565452012-12-03T10:37:00.000-08:002014-03-27T11:08:29.519-07:00Bail Bonds and the Media: Objective Journalism or Pretrial Services Advocacy…You DecideLast weekend a story was written in the San Francisco Weekly that discussed how pretrial detention ruins people’s lives. The story spun the usual pretrial community anti-bail talking point stating that jails are overcrowded and people are languishing away in jail because they can’t afford a bail bond. Also in usual fashion, the article puts the victim spotlight not on the actual <a href="http://www.expertbail.com/national-crime-victim-assistance-search" target="_blank">crime victim</a> but rather the defendant whose life has been ruined now that he is in jail. This isn't the first story we have seen like this and I am certain it won’t be the last. However there are a few things that I would like to point out about this particular story that are worth discussing, after all this is a <a href="http://briannairinbail.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">bail bond blog</a> post. <br />
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First, instead of going solely after the “evil <b><a href="http://www.expertbail.com/resources/bail-glossary" target="_blank">bail bondsman</a></b>” as these stories typically do, this story seems to be attacking the judicial system overall including the DA’s office and the judge who presided over this specific case. This is an interesting and much more aggressive approach for the pretrial community…and a curious one at that. The <b><a href="http://www.aiasurety.com/" target="_blank">commercial bail industry</a></b> sees itself as a vital component of the criminal justice system; A component that works hand in hand with the DA’s office and judges. We see and understand our role as facilitating the process of <a href="http://www.pretrialtruth.com/" target="_blank">pretrial release</a> and not as deciding who gets out and who doesn't get out. If release is determined appropriate by a judge, the bail industry works with the family of the defendant based on that decision. It is neither our role nor our place to question the judge’s experience and authority. We find it curious that the pretrial community feels it is theirs.<br />
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Second, this article uses the specific case of defendant Anthony Dorton as an example of someone whose life was ruined because he was held pretrial until he was recently found not guilty by a jury. The first problem with that approach is that the article is making a pretty big claim and basing it on one case. There have literally been millions of cases over the years in which the pretrial process works exceptionally well, but the author of this article felt the need to use one case to make his point. Second, if you were to read this article with that information and nothing else, it is easy to begin to feel badly for the defendant. However, what the article fails to mention is that the defendant they are referring to is not as innocent as they would like you to believe. In fact, the DA’s office still believes it had a strong case against the defendant and that more investigation is necessary. So once again, by avoiding all the facts, the article is setting us up to make its predetermined point, regardless of the real facts. The author essentially tries to create a victim out of the defendant…and that is disrespectful to the real crime victims. Here is a link to the story;<a href="http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/crime/2012/08/advanced-pimpin-expert-costs-san-francisco-2k-hotel-fees#ixzz2DNU1dHtl" target="_blank"> “Advanced Pimpin' Expert Costs San Francisco $2K in Hotel Fees.”</a><br />
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Third, the reporter makes the same mistake that many people do when it comes to the “presumption of innocence” doctrine. The article suggests that one of the reasons that pretrial detention is bad is that is violates a person’s right to the presumption of innocence. Unfortunately that is a common misrepresentation by the pretrial community. The presumption of innocence is a concept that is reserved for the courtroom. It is not a concept that relates to protecting and serving the public and our communities. If that were not the case, then law enforcement would never be able to make an arrest. Why? Because they would have to assume that the person is innocent and did not commit the crime. The reality is that law enforcement bases their actions on another doctrine…one referred to as “probable cause.” Based on the evidence available to them at the time, they act based on whether there is enough probable cause to make an arrest. So those individuals who are being detained in jail (which by the way is the purpose of jails in the first place, to detain individuals accused of a crime) are there because of probable cause, and the doctrine of innocent until proven guilty is not yet applicable until they enter the courtroom.<br />
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Lastly, to me the most upsetting part of this article is not what is in it, but rather what is not in it. About three weeks ago, several individuals within the bail industry were asked to participate in a conference call with the author of the article. Just the fact that someone was actually asking our side of the story was great. It really gave me a sense of hope and optimism that finally, someone was going to write an honest and objective article about the <b><a href="http://www.aiasurety.com/" target="_blank">bail bond industry</a></b> and the real issues in the criminal justice system. The group of bail representatives spent about an hour with the reporter. They explained the bail process, the difference between the presumption of innocence and probable cause, gave statistics on the effectiveness of bail, our opinions on jail overcrowding, and so on. We told our story the way it needed to be told…with facts, experience and professionalism. Unfortunately, <b><u>none</u></b> of the information we provided was included in the story.<br />
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So here we are again…right back where we started this blog, with those in the pretrial community and those in support of their mission, continuing to spin a web of misinformation and pawn it off as fact. Even when presented with the truth, they seem to find a way to either misrepresent it or disregard it all together. The good news is that regardless of what they say and write, we still have the truth and facts on our side. I look forward to your comments. <br />
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<br />Behind the Paper with Brian Nairinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00852678584464018778noreply@blogger.com6