Professor Faith Deckard discusses how commercial bail makes families the hidden workforce of pretrial justice

Professor Faith Deckard examines how gendered and racialized stereotypes around care, control, and stability shape the bail industry. Her research reveals that bail agents often rely on mothers and grandmothers to leverage their financial and social resources to secure bail for loved ones. She also addresses the broad discretion bail bond agents and agencies hold in setting prices and determining co-signer requirements. By outsourcing risk and responsibility, the industry shifts the burden of pretrial compliance onto families, making them the true guarantors. These families shoulder not only financial debt but also the emotional labor and monitoring required to keep loved ones in compliance.

Read the full article: bailproject.org/learn/on-the-hook/