The 2013 Winter Conference for Professional Bail Agents of the United States started February 24th at the Mirage Hotel and Casino. Agents from across the country came together for opportunities to network and listen to educational speakers. There was also new information about services and products.

One of the main focuses for the conference this year was the issue of pretrial release. On Monday, there was a two-hour session dedicated to the topic and saw a high attendance. So much so, that the room had to be expanded to create enough space for the attendees.

Dennis Bartlett with the American Bail Coalition as well as Melanie Ledgerwood from Accredited spoke during the session, presenting statistics about commercial bail and pretrial release. They also discussed the information that is being pushed onto the public.

Some of the facts stated include:

• In unsecured release, failure to appear rates are double compared to commercial bail
• China has been studying the commercial bail system in America in order to learn how to make improvements to its own justice system
• Unsecured release results in a higher recidivism rate compared to commercial bail release

Bartlett explained to the audience that, in spite of the fact that the criminal justice system would fail without the commercial bail system, members of the Bail Reform Movement are working to remove the commercial bail system.

This information is being passed on to bail agents in order to create awareness that members of this movement will attempt to cut out the money bail system by speaking to the public and to county supervisors. Agents should take note and make sure they are doing their part to counteract the misinformation that supporters of pretrial release by speaking out in support of commercial bail.

Bartlett and Ledgerwood both stated that supporters of pretrial release will collect data and statistics and then skew the information to show that pretrial release programs are more favorable than the commercial bail system.

People who attended the conference also shared their own stories of how pretrial release statistics are collected and reported in their states. PBUS will be making information about pretrial release available to download and share ways to present the information to the community.

Getting past the public’s negative view of bail bondsmen was another big topic being discussed this year at PBUS. Agents are encouraged to speak out at organizations and civic clubs, career days and criminal justice programs. It is important to try and turn around the misconception that bail agents are low-lives and show the public that it is a valuable and honorable profession, and that they are an important part of the criminal justice system.

Source: https://www.aboutbail.com/articles/1431/what-you-missed-at-the-pbus-winter-conference

Published:  03/17/2013