Research suggests cash bail is ineffective in ensuring those accused of crimes honour their bail conditions. Deterrence cannot be bought.
Articles on Bail
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Budget 2026 spends $503 million on expanding prisons. But 41% of the prison population are people on remand and more than half are released once their case is heard.
President Trump wants to punish states and cities that eliminate bail money, but releasing defendants pretrial without having to post bail doesn’t lead to higher crime rates, data shows.
While high-profile bail cases tend to dominate media coverage, policy on criminal and legal matters must be guided by evidence, not headlines.
There’s a widespread belief that people who breach their bail conditions do so deliberately, but the real causes are often much more benign.
Tracking young people who are accused of serious crimes will not actually reduce youth crime - in fact, it may well entrench it.
One by one, former President Donald Trump and his 18 co-defendants in the Georgia presidential election interference case turned themselves in for arrest at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta.
Poccum’s Law provides a best practice, evidence-based model for bail reform which would have prevented Veronica Nelson’s death in custody.
Those determining bail must reflect on their own beliefs and show restraint as they determine risk to avoid relying on false racist narratives. So should those calling for bail reform.
Arrested on suspicion of shoplifting and denied bail, Veronica Nelson died alone in a cell. A Victorian coroner has called for urgent reform of the state’s tough bail laws.
To protect communities, we must improve the likelihood that accused people can comply with their bail conditions by offering greater support on several fronts, from social services to law enforcement.
A new wave of prosecutors, known as progressives, say that public safety can exist with policies like eliminating cash bail for people charged with low-level offenses.
The median amount of cash bail is $10,000 – an immense sum for people living in poverty. Bail funds, unlike bail bondsmen, don’t charge high fees.
Reform-minded prosecutors across the US notched victories against traditional law-and-order candidates by running on progressive platforms to reduce mass incarceration and tackle police misconduct.
From thousands of people chipping in as little as $5 to George Floyd’s GoFundMe to donations well in excess of $1 million to HBCUs, anti-racist philanthropy is rising.
Releasing prisoners on remand – who are entitled to a presumption of innocence – would reduce the risk of them contracting COVID-19 and the disease spreading within prisons.
They’ve been branded as anarchists and ‘fringe-dwellers’, but do Extinction Rebellion protesters really warrant such drastic reactions?
There are now more legally innocent people in jail in Victoria than there were convicted prisoners in 2005.
Proposed new laws will restrict parole and bail to those merely associated in some way with terrorism, even when they have not be arrested for – or convicted of – a specific terrorism offence.
Australia needs to be very careful not to allow the bail system to become a political scapegoat at the hands of commentators exercising 20/20 hindsight.
Top contributors
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Emeritus Professor in Law and Criminal Justice, Adelaide University
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Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Guelph
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Professor of Criminology, Australian National University
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PhD student, Criminology, University of Guelph
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ARC DECRA Associate Professor in Crime, Justice and Legal Studies, La Trobe University
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Assistant Professor, Justice Studies, University of Guelph-Humber
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Professor of Law, University of Wollongong
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PhD Candidate, University of Technology Sydney
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Professor of Criminology, University of Technology Sydney
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Professor, Department of Justice Studies, Montclair State University
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Professor of Law, Georgia State University
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Dean, School of Law, Deakin University
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Lecturer, The University of Melbourne
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Emeritus Professor, Australian National University
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PhD Researcher, Menzies School of Health Research