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Journal Article Link 12.1: Sigler, R., & Formby, W. (1978). The Necessity of Bail Reform. Criminal Justice Review, 3(1), 1-7.

The administration of bail in the United States is a process which has a tendency to be misunderstood and often misused by the general public and practitioners of the criminal justice system. It is generally thought that the bail process prevents those accused from fleeing from justice. Additionally, it is presumed that bail may be used for the purpose of preventive detention, that is, to protect the community from the release of dangerous persons.

Though the original purpose of bail was to insure the accused's appearance in court, this being the only legitimate use of bail today; we contend that it does not satisfy this purpose. The primary result of the bail process is the incarceration of indigent and inexperienced offenders. Not only does this process fail to insure a released offender's appearance in court, it is actually an impediment to justice.

The use of bail for the purpose of preventive detention, in essence, constitutes a misuse of the bail process since the purpose of bail is simply to insure that the accused will appear for trial. In fact, in many cases we find the majority of those not able to make bail are the poor while serious offenders are released on bail.

Both of these aspects should be viewed in light of their apparent failure to achieve their goals, from the reformist's standpoint. If a process is not meeting its goals, then changes are in order.

1. Summarize the author’s main point(s) in just a few sentences.
2. What potential problems does the author not address with his/her own work?
3. How would you address potential problems and/or future research recommendations that are addressed by the author?
4. Do you see any evidence of bias in the authors work or writing? If so, what is it and why do you think it is there?
5. How has this article expanded your knowledge on the subject and/or challenged your preconceptions of the subject?

Journal Article Link 12.2: Suffet, F. (1966). Bail Setting: A Study of Courtroom Interaction. Crime & Delinquency, 12(4), 318-331.

This study examines the brief interactions in a busy courtroom among the principal parties to the bail-setting decision. The main patterns of interaction are as follows: The judge sets bail without discussion, or after an amount is first suggested by one of the opposing attorneys, or after an amount is suggested and one of the attorneys makes a counter suggestion. The defense attorney is the least influential member of the bail-setting triad; he least often initially suggests a bail amount, and his initial suggestions become the final amount half the time, compared to nine-tenths of the time for the judge and the prosecutor. The judge and the prosecutor make similar bail suggestions, but for different reasons: the prosecutor, because of the prescriptions of his role; the judge, because he is most vulnerable to public criticism. A consequence of the judge-prosecutor coalition is that conflict over bail amount is suppressed. Bail-setting serves the latent function of diffusing the responsibility for the defendant's release. The three general types of bail disposition—release on recognizance, bail in a dollar amount, and remand—are seen as progressively decreasing the judge's share in the responsibility for releasing the accused.

1. Summarize the author’s main point(s) in just a few sentences.
2. What potential problems does the author not address with his/her own work?
3. How would you address potential problems and/or future research recommendations that are addressed by the author?
4. Do you see any evidence of bias in the authors work or writing? If so, what is it and why do you think it is there?
5. How has this article expanded your knowledge on the subject and/or challenged your preconceptions of the subject?

Journal Article Link 12.3: Houlden, P., & Balkin, S. (1985). Performance Evaluation for Systems of Assigned Service Providers: A Demonstration Assessing Systems of Indigent Defense. Evaluation Review, 9(5), 547-573.

We present a design for evaluating tiered systems of service providers in which assigned service providers are compared with each other through comparison against a benchmark of privately purchased providers. It tests the utility of this approach to data collection and analysis by evaluating the quality of two systems for providing representation to indigent defendants: a part-time public defender versus ad hoc appointment of the private bar. In addition, this article recognizes the need to consider the costs associated with provisions of services. It is unique in estimating costs for specific types of cases (felonies and misdemeanors) rather than aggregating across case types. Finally, the article is the first to present a method for estimating cost per case among case types for a system where only a lump sum payment is made.

1. Summarize the author’s main point(s) in just a few sentences.
2. What potential problems does the author not address with his/her own work?
3. How would you address potential problems and/or future research recommendations that are addressed by the author?
4. Do you see any evidence of bias in the authors work or writing? If so, what is it and why do you think it is there?
5. How has this article expanded your knowledge on the subject and/or challenged your preconceptions of the subject?