Like most privileged, middle-class kids, I first became aware of “bail bonds” by watching the Bad News Bears and having my parents explain the “Chico’s Bail Bonds” joke.
Other, less fortunate children, had a more direct experience with the concept of bail.
For as long as I can remember, the concept that you had to stay in jail awaiting trial, subject to your ability to pay, was something that I accepted without thought. How else would you do it? You set bail with reference to the depravity of the crime alleged, at a price point where the accused will have a financial incentive to return for trial. Before I went to law school I think I assumed that judges had some kind of chart: Charge x Adjusted Gross Income = reasonable bail.
Labor and Employment Federal Litigation Trends 2026
Drawing on more than a decade of data, the report equips law firms and corporate legal teams with actionable insights to better assess risk, refine strategy, and anticipate outcomes in today’s evolving workplace disputes.
There is no chart. Being innocent until proven guilty can be ruinously expensive.
Even as we learn that bail is administered racially and economically unfairly and unequally, reforming the system feels like a massive undertaking. And for what? Cops are out here shooting unarmed teenagers. Poor, predominately black, defendants are making confessions to crimes they didn’t commit. Pot is still a thing we put people in jail for. Reforming bail feels like small potatoes given the larger challenges facing our justice system.
But, Kamala Harris and Rand Paul have changed my mind. They’re co-sponsoring a bill to reform bail. Intellectually, it always makes sense for arch-libertarians and progressives to agree on criminal justice reform. But race usually gets in the way when it comes time for libertarians to actually put their votes where their mouths always are.
Rand Paul seems almost alone in his attempts to bring the libertarians he claims to speak for together with Democrats who agree with him on some justice and police issues. Those two camps should be able to work together on these issues.
What Even Is AI ‘Competence’? It Depends.
Takeaways from a Legalweek panel on evolving malpractice risks.
Moreover, reforming bail does not seem like it should be an insurmountable challenge. There is no chart, but there is certainly an algorithm that can do this better. I missed the bill when it was announced in July, but this NBC News story includes an example on how bail reform is working in New Jersey.
Read that again, something is working in Jersey! From NBC:
New Jersey has begun using an algorithm that helps set conditions for pretrial release or holds a defendant in jail until trial. As a result, the number of people held before trial in the state has dropped by roughly a third, according to the New Jersey Court Criminal Justice Reform data.
Arizona and Kentucky use similar algorithms, as do some counties in other parts of the country.
I am surprising comfortable about the robots dishing out “justice.” Yes, there are risks. Yes, an algorithm can be programmed to be just as racist as its programmer (Amazon will not accurately reflect whether or not I want to buy a Tyler Perry movie, no matter how many times I scream at it).
But compared to people? Compared to prejudiced ass people? Bail shouldn’t be an argument. This plus that equals $bail, the end.
If an algorithm can do it better, and it can be brought to us from both sides of the aisle, I’m all for it.
Rand Paul and Kamala Harris Team Up to Reform Bail Practices [NBC News]
Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.