How do you navigate the space in the bail reform debate when law enforcement and activists seem to be arguing contrary positions. One example is the debate over defunding the police. A study that was highlighted on Episode No. 71 of our podcast demonstrated that defunding the police increases crime immediately not only in the area that the police are removed from but the surrounding area as well. Also, taking the police out of the community resulted in litigation that resulted in judgments against the city totaling over $32 million dollars.

Nevertheless, activists continue to argue that defunding the police will actually make communities safer.

How do we navigate between these two positions. When activists have flooded google with pseudo studies that defy common sense how do we debunk them and find the real science?

This is the subject of this episode of The Bail Post.

Dr. Benjamin Hansen is the W.E. Minor Professor of Economics at the University of Oregon. He is also the head of the Economics Department. He Graduated from Birmingham Young University in 2004 with a B.A. in Economics. He received his M.A. in Economics in 2005 and his PhD in Economics in 2009 from UC Santa Barbara.

Dr. Hansen co-authored an article that is the subject of this episode of The Bail Post. The citation for the article is: Chalfin, Hansen, Weisburst and Williams, "Police Force Size and Civilian Race," American Economic Review: Insights 4 (2); 139-58 (2022).

The article addressed defunding the police and its impact on crime. One of the conclusions of the study was that decreasing the size of the police force will increase murder rates and that will disproportionately negatively impact certain minority groups. This means that decreasing the size of police will result in more murders and the number will increase even more for certain minority groups.

While Dr. Hansen agrees that this is one of the conclusions of the report, he also highlights other strategies that were not addressed in the report as possible alternatives to attempt to decrease crime by moving police funds to other strategies. Dr. Hansen admits there would be a time lag for some of these strategies and others might not be an actual replacement for police, but could augment them in certain areas to allow quicker response times.

Join us for this episode of The Bail Post.

On August 22, 2025, Iryna Zarutska was killed at the East/West Boulevard station on the Lynx Blue Line, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Zarutska, a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who had fled her country because of the Russian invasion, was stabbed from behind three times while seated on the train. She did everything right. She and her family immigrated to the United States legally. They had a sponsor. She was attending college and was working at a pizza shop. At the time of the stabbing she was traveling home after work.

The entire event was captured on video. Initially, the video was not seen by the public. Then everything changed when the mayor of Charlotte thanked the press for not distributing the video. Then the video was everywhere.

In response to this terrible event, the North Carolina legislature passed Iryna's Law. It was signed by the Democrat Governor.

Join us on this episode of The Bail Post as we discuss the events leading up to this tragedy and the statute that was passed in Iryna Zarutsha' honor.

Our guest is the President of the North Carolina Bail Agent's Association, Julie Henderson.

As we begin Season 5 of the Bail Post, we are talking about the importance of engaging in public relations in the Criminal Justice System. One of the things that we have learned over the years is that the activists will never admit that they are wrong or that they are doing more harm than good. Also, they have learned how to inundate google with pseudo studies that are really nothing more than dressed up press releases from these same groups that many times actually contradict what the actual science says should be the proper course of action. Therefore, if we are not telling the positive stories of the bail industry and the Criminal Justice System, then these stories will not be told. If we are not highlighting what the actual science says then many times no one will.

Our guests on today's episode of The Bail Post is our PR Team- Cara Downs and Elliott Chang who are Media Vista PR. If you would like more information about Cara and Elliott contact them directly at:

Elliott@mediavistapr.com

Cara@mediavistpr.com

In 2020, there were protests in Seattle, Washington following the death of George Floyd. For a period of 24 days, an area that became known as the Capitol Hill Occupation Protest (CHOP) was treated as an autonomous zone where the police did not respond to calls. As a result, the CHOP zone became an example of what happens when police stop policing. Dr. Eric Piza and Dr. Nathan T. Connealy largely used data from the City of Seattle Open Data portal, analyzing data from more than one year prior to CHOP with two microsynth models to understand average and seasonal crime trends. Dr. Piza and Dr. Connealy looked at the impact of crime in three areas: (1) the CHOP zone; (2) the two block radius around the CHOP zone; and (3) the precinct at large.

The results showed a significant increase in crime within the CHOP zone, the encompassing two-block area, and the overall East precinct service area during the occupation period. The study suggests that calls to abolish the police compromise public safety.

Although advocates argue the abolishing police would have a positive impact on crime, the science not only does not support this conclusion, it actually supports the opposite conclusion that when police stop policing crime increases dramatically.

Anne Marie Schubert is a career prosecutor. Schubert earned a bachelor's degree from Saint Mary’s College of California in 1986 and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco in 1989. Her career experience includes being the Sacramento County District Attorney, Supervising Deputy District Attorney of the Sacramento District Attorney's Office, and Deputy District Attorney of Contra Costa and Solano Counties. Schubert has been a board member of the National District Attorneys Association and has been affiliated with Fight Crime: Invest in Kids and Stand Up for Victims.

On this episode of The Bail Post we discuss how to identify soft on crime district attorneys and how to oppose them.

On this episode of The Bail Post we discuss the 2025 Texas Legislative Session to highlight the major bail bills and proposed constitutional amendments that were considered. We highlight important changes to 17.19 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Also, we highlight, SJR 5, SB 9 and SB 40 that were passed this session. Our guests are the PBT Legislative Committee Chair Cory Lee and former PBT Legislative Committee Chair Scott Walstad.

The Texas Legislature is in full swing. A few weeks ago, the House Criminal Jurisprudence committee was conducting a hearing on multiple bail bills. The ACLU of Texas gave testimony highlighting a story alleging that a defendant was lost in the Harris County jail for 18 years without a conviction before his case was dismissed. Of course, the headline was not correct. A defendant had been arrested for capital murder and found incompetent to stand trial. What followed was a cycle of the defendant being sent for treatment for several years, then moved back to the county jail to be re-evaluated to determine whether he was now competent to stand trial. The cycle was repeated multiple times. On this episode of The Bail Post we talk about mental health issues in the Criminal Justice System. Contrary to what was reported to the House committee, the problem was a mental health issue not a bail issue. Our guest is Ramey Heddins from MHMR of Tarrant County. Join us as we discuss trying to fit the square peg of mental health issues into the round hole of Criminal Justice.