Criminal Bail: How Bail Reform Is Working in Selected District Courts

In response to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the impact of the Bail Reform Act of 1984 to: (1) compare pretrial detention under the old and new laws; (2) determine the extent to which the new law aided in detention of certain types of defendants; (3) compare the extent to which released defendants failed to appear for scheduled judicial proceedings or were arrested for new crimes; and (4) identify implementation problems.