1399: Bail Reform | Skeptical Sunday

About this episode

Innocent until proven broke? On Skeptical Sunday, Jessica Wynn explains how cash bail jails half a million unconvicted Americans. Welcome to Skeptical Sunday, a special edition of The Jordan Harbinger Show where Jordan and a guest break down a topic that you may have never thought about, open things up, and debunk common misconceptions. This time around, we’re joined by writer and researcher Jessica Wynn! Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/1399 On This Week's Skeptical Sunday, We Discuss: • How roughly 500,000 legally innocent Americans sit in jail awaiting trial on any given day — not because they're dangerous, but because cash bail sorts people by bank balance rather than by risk, and only the US and the Philippines rent out freedom via commercial bail bonds. • Why bail reform became political kryptonite: crime rose during COVID just as reforms rolled out, so Utah (after five months!) and Alaska scrapped theirs before the data arrived, while a $2-billion-a-year bail bond industry lobbied hard to keep freedom behind a paywall. • What happens when reform survives on paper but not in practice: judges swap unaffordable bail for no-bail holds, ank