On the same day that prosecutors sought to detain the young man caught with a gun in Jersey City, they did not oppose the release of another young man accused of stabbing someone in a fight. The bail bond business does help some people get out of jail but its also led to ruthless business practices. Jurisdictions undertaking reform have to meaningfully move away from a law and order approach to a humanizing one. In many places, courts follow bail schedules amounts that are based on charge without taking into account details of a persons case or their ability to pay, and often without defense counsel being present. Since the reforms in New Jersey went into effect, the pretrial jail population is down 17.2 percent. African-American and Hispanic people are more likely to be arrested, more likely to be issued bail, and less likely to be able to afford it. The earliest prediction tools, first developed in the early 1900s, explicitly used nationality and race as factors, along with subjective descriptions of a persons personality a practice that gave way after the civil rights era to a reliance on more statistical methods. The use of money bail is one of the most troubling features of our deeply unequal justice system. In at least two cases, people have been killed by men whod been released on earlier charges. In theory, bail and the network of bail-bond companies that provides loans to those who cant pay gives just about anyone the opportunity to remain free while awaiting their fate. For more information on issues of pre-trial justice, check out: Tim Schnacte's comprehensive report, Fundamentals of Bail, describing the bail framework and necessary reforms; Pretrial Justice Institute (PJI), which is dedicated to advancing safe, fair, and effective juvenile and adult pretrial justice practices; and Equal Justice Under Law, which engages in litigation and advocacy to . For public order crimes (which include things like disturbing the peace and prostitution), the average bail for a Black defendant was $10,000 higher than for a white defendant, according to a 2010 survey of five US cities; for drug crimes, the difference is $13,000. There is also a flag for those with a high risk of future violence. At Vox, we believe that everyone deserves access to information that helps them understand and shape the world they live in. Steinberg believes there are better options to ensure people return to court than making them pay or holding them indefinitely.