Hookers,Judges,and Bail Forfeitures

Abstract

Many common models of the policy-implementing process assume that all the goals of any system are imposed on it from outside, by legislatures or other discretionary authorities. Because of this, they lack the ability to identify much of what is specifically political about public administration. For instance, bail is supposed to be used solely to require the presence of accused persons at their trials. But there is evidence that the administration of bail is often manipulated to respond to political pressures and used to "export" prostitutes or to operate informal systems of preventive detention. Research could detect these pressures if models contained variables representing what happens within the system itself.