News
Updates from the National Association of Bail Agents
The SAFE-T Act at Two Years: What the Data Says, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters
Illinois’s SAFE-T Act did not produce the catastrophe critics predicted. It also has not produced the unalloyed success proponents claim. Two years of partial, mixed data — and one major missing comparison.
Beyond the Statewide Average: What Illinois’s County-Level Data Actually Shows About the SAFE-T Act
The Illinois SAFE-T Act's favorable headline numbers rest on Cook County data — a jurisdiction that had already moved away from cash bail six years before the law. Counties that actually relied on cash bail tell a different story: rising re-offense rates, exploding FTA summons volume, and declining victim restitution.
Who Pays When the Bondsman Is Gone? The Cost-Shift Nobody Talks About
Bail reform's fiscal argument compares jail beds before reform to jail beds after. It almost never accounts for the cost of the replacement system — government-staffed pretrial agencies, electronic monitoring contracts, and expanded judicial calendars. That system is not free. It is not even cheap.
The Missing Comparator: What Bail Reform Research Actually Measured
The studies most often cited to support bail reform never compared text reminders to commercial surety. They compared reminders to nothing at all. That distinction matters more than reform advocates have been willing to say.
Providence Patrolwoman’s Arrest Puts Spotlight on Police Integrity
A former Providence police officer appeared before a judge Monday morning after being arrested in connection with an alleged drug operation that spanned two cities. Destiny Viera, 25, was arraigned on
La Quinta Resident Released on $200,000 Bail Following Online Threats to ‘No Kings’ Rally
A 28-year-old La Quinta man was released on $200,000 bail this weekend after being arrested for allegedly posting a threat to open fire at a Palm Springs “No Kings” rally. Authorities say swift invest
Betrayed by Bargains: Bail Bond Scam Leaves Families Hundreds Out of Pocket
When desperation strikes at Wayne County’s Criminal Justice Center, families seeking to free loved ones on bail may fall prey to a growing scam that dangles impossibly low fees—and vanishes with the c
Fugitive Wanted for Sex Crimes Arrested After Armed Standoff in Livingston Starbucks
Livingston, MT – January 28, 2025 – A tense armed standoff at a Starbucks in Livingston, Montana, concluded without injury when 34-year-old Timothy Westervelt, a Billings resident wanted on multiple f
Reality Check - Govt Funded Bail a Sham
A 14 year old boy was just stabbed to death in New York by yet another emotionally disturbed, repeat offender who did not belong on the street.
Standing Up for Justice in a System Under Attack
I am a bondsman—a profession rooted in the Constitution and born from the fundamental principle of justice: the presumption of innocence. For centuries, the right to bail has been a cornerstone of our
National bail association asks Senate to begin impeachment against two Bozeman judges
The executive director of the American Bail Coalition has submitted a request to Montana Senate President Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, and other members of the Senate Select Committee on Judicial Over
Federal judge orders Bozeman municipal court to take disputed bonds
A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction and order that will force the Bozeman Municipal Court to accept the bail bonds of Helena-based Bad Boy Bail Bonds after two judges refused to honor