The Bail Trap - A Scandal at the Heart of American Justice

From the renowned founder of The Bail Project, an eye-opening book about why we allow money to play any role in the administration of justice

>With engaging and accessible prose, Robin Steinberg, founder and CEO of The Bail Project, and her colleague Camilo Ramirez tell the shocking true stories of people jailed by poverty while also detailing:

• the history of bail, from its inception in medieval England, as an incentive for people to return to court, to modern America where it is a "mechanism for detention"

• the roles lawyers, judges, and legislators have in the legal system and how and why they have become complicit in excessive bail

• how the current bail system undermines the promise of a fair and just system and the U.S. Constitution

• effective alternatives to cash bail

For fans of The Race to Incarcerate by Marc Mauer and James Kilgore's Understanding Mass Incarceration, Steinberg, whose previous book was called "powerfully insightful reading" by Kirkus Reviews, and Ramirez provide an unprecedented look at America's cash bail system and inspire us to imagine a better, fairer way forward.

About the author

Robin Steinberg is the founder and CEO of The Bail Project, a national nonprofit launched in 2018 that pays bail for thousands of incarcerated people every year and works toward systemic change. A TED speaker and the author of The Courage of Compassion, with Camilo Ramirez, she lives in New York City.

Product details

• Authors: Camilo Ramirez, Robin Steinberg
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 04.08.2026
• EAN: 9781620978429
• ISBN: 978-1-62097-842-9
• No. of pages: 224
• Dimensions: 139 mm x 215 mm x 14 mm
• Illustrations: Illustrationen, nicht spezifiziert
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Law > General, dictionaries; LAW / Criminal Law / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Criminology, LAW / Criminal Procedure, LAW / Discrimination, Social discrimination & inequality, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Social Classes & Economic Disparity, Criminal procedure, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Discrimination, Social discrimination and social justice, Discrimination in employment and harassment law, Discrimination in employment law, LAW / Reform & Transformation