The Bail System: An Economic Approach

Widespread dissatisfaction with the current state of criminal justice in the United States has revived interest in the long-standing problem of determining what to do with a person charged with a crime between the time of his arrest and trial.' Should the accused be released or detained during this time interval? What factors are relevant to this decision? What requirements, if any, should be imposed on the accused as a condition of his release? The fundamental issue these questions raise is the difficulty of reconciling the defendant's rights to freedom before his guilt has been formally adjudicated with the community's interest in protecting itself from possible future harm.2 In practice, most societies try to