accountability
Five centuries after Niccolò Machiavelli wrote about power, perception, alliances, and survival, his lessons raise uncomfortable questions for professional surety bail. Niccolò Machiavelli died nearly five hundred years ago, long before television, social media, political action committees, professional associations, or the modern American criminal justice system. He knew nothing about
Bail Bonds
President Donald Trump again placed bail policy on the national agenda during his September 9 speech in Dallas, pledging that his administration would continue pursuing an end to cashless bail. This was not the first time President Trump has addressed the issue. His public record on bail stretches back years
accountability
Two years of progress are on the ballot this November, and PBUS is leading the effort to protect it from Washington to your hometown Bail is on the ballot this November, whether the candidates say the word or not. Over the past two years the country has moved back toward
accountability
Behind the political noise is a simpler reality: licensed bail professionals are often the fastest, most personal lifeline for working families facing unexpected arrest. In the heated national debate over bail reform, one perspective is consistently overlooked: the view from the jail parking lot at 2 a.m., from the
accountability
In 2023, the Stone County sheriff's runoff came down to 687 votes. A Forrest County supervisor's seat was settled in the primary by 749 votes. In Harrison County, the sheriff was chosen by a margin of 1,520 votes with no opponent waiting in the general.
accountability
Professional surety bail often provides lower-income and marginalized families something rarely discussed in the bail debate: access to credit. For bail agents, however, extending that credit also means understanding where collection ends and the authority of the appearance bond begins. One of the practical advantages of professional surety bail
Arrest
Another Mississippi shooting raises a harder question about human behavior, respect for life, public safety, and fear of consequences. Friday morning in Bolton, Mississippi, Tiffany Marshall was preparing to take her baby to daycare when gunfire struck her home. She told WLBT that she grabbed her baby to protect him
accountability
The Bail Industry’s Art of the Deal: A Strategic Blueprint for National Reform Why the profession must stop reacting to reform and start writing it — and what seven months of doing exactly that has put on the record. First published January 2026. Updated September 2026. Donald Trump’s The
accountability
Why the Founders' fight over liberty and authority still explains what surety bail does Over the past several months, I have written a series examining the ideas that shaped the American system of liberty and government. The subjects have ranged from Thomas Paine, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison,
Bail
For over a decade, the criminal justice system has been a testing ground for a compelling modern theory: that the foundational challenges of pretrial liberty and public safety could be optimized through data science. The high-water mark of this movement occurred when proponents began advocating for widespread adoption of
accountability
How the Statute of Westminster I began limiting government discretion over pretrial liberty more than five centuries before the Bill of Rights Long before George Mason, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, or the Eighth Amendment, English law was already struggling with a question that remains familiar today: how much power
Criminal Justice
How Axios keeps handing Vera Institute the authority slot on why crime is falling Axios has now run two separate stories on the historic 2025-2026 crime decline. Both times, the outlet turned to the same person to discount enforcement as an explanation: Insha Rahman, president of the Vera Institute