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The Bail Post

The Bail Post

By: PBT Team
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Summary

What do we know about criminal justice reforms or bail reform? How do we evaluate whether reforms are helping or making the situation worse? How can we take politics out of criminal justice and focus on public safety? The Bail Post seeks to be a place where legislators and the public can educate themselves on a host of criminal justice/bail reform issues. With various attempts at criminal justice reform from New York to Texas to California, many people are confused as to what is working and what is not. With the passage of time, more and more data is coming to light over what successful reform looks like and what reforms have been found to not be working. The rise in violent crime across the country has been startling and law makers and the public alike are desperate to find legislation that is effective. Some might ask whether some of the reforms making the situation worse? The Bail Post is an on-going discussion that seeks to cut to the core to provide education on the various issues raised and to highlight what successful criminal justice reform looks like and what measures have been disastrous. Join us and educate yourself about the best practices that jurisdictions must implement to keep their communities safe, while ensuring fairness to defendants. As a someone said recently "Public safety is the foundation of a society. Without public safety we do not have a society."

If you would like to listen other episodes of The Bail Post you can find a subject matter index of the different episodes at- https://pbtx.blogspot.com/p/subject-index-to-bail-post-podcasts.html.

The host is Ken W. Good; an attorney in Tyler, Texas who has been licensed for over 30 years. He has argued cases before the Supreme Court of Texas and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Mr. Good has written a book on bail called "Goods On Bail." He has also has had numerous papers published on Criminal Justice Reform issues. Mr. Good is a board member of PBT and serves on the legislative committee. Mr. Good is married and has two daughters.

© 2026 The Bail Post Economics Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Episode No. 78- ODonnell v. Harris County- The Case That Will Not Die

    Episode No. 78- ODonnell v. Harris County- The Case That Will Not Die
    Oct 9 2026

    On October 5, 2026, the Honorable Judge Lee Rosenthal issued an memorandum opinion in the ODonnell case. The court was ruling on a motion to dismiss the consent decree that was filed by 4 of the 16 misdemeanor judges.

    By way of history, the judges had been arguing for sometime that the consent decree did not comply with SB 6 and more recently did not comply with SB 9 passed by the Texas Legislature in the most recent Texas Legislative Session. Additionally, since the consent decree/settlement agreement was entered, all of the substantive rulings made by the trial court in ODonnell had been reversed by the 5th Circuit. Further, in the Daves II en banc opinion issued by the 5th Circuit, the court of appeals specifically stated that both Daves and ODonnell should never have been adjudicated in federal court.

    The trial court issued her opinion because the 5th Circuit issued a writ of mandamus ordering Judge Rosenthal to rule on the motion to dismiss based upon Younger Abstention "expeditiously" well before the upcoming election in November. Also, the court of appeals ordered Judge Rosenthal to follow the Daves II opinion. During the hearing on September 22, 2026, Judge Rosenthal stated multiple times that the court of appeals had ordered her to abstain.

    Nevertheless, on October 5, 2026, the trial court denied the motion to dismiss and did not follow the Daves II opinion. The four judges have already filed a notice of appeal. Join us on this episode of The Bail Post as we discuss the history of this case and address the court's ruling.

    If you would like to see the trial court's memorandum opinion you can see it at:

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r-B2gHhNpJxMDHdVE-2FLPDq15jbz2xd/view?usp=sharing
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    34 mins
  • Episode No. 77- SB 9 Spotlight- Personal Bonds and the Changes Made to Tex. Code Crim. Pro. art. 17.03

    Episode No. 77- SB 9 Spotlight- Personal Bonds and the Changes Made to Tex. Code Crim. Pro. art. 17.03
    Sep 30 2026

    In SB 6 and SB 9, the Texas Legislature made major changes to article 17.03 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. On this episode of the Bail Post we begin a new series placing a spotlight on changes to the Criminal Justice System of Texas that are set out in SB 9, SB 6 and several other statutes passed by the Texas Legislature.

    We will be highlightiing changes to Article 17.03 regarding the use of personal bonds in Texas. In SB 6 the changes to article 17.03 was one of three major reforms set out in the bill. In SB 9, artilce 17.03 was tweaked by adding an additional charge on which a defendant is not entitle to a persona bond (felon in possession of a weapon) and one charge was moved from group 3 to to group 2 (terroristic threat).

    PBT has a one page summary of the charges and their restrictions set out in article 17.03. The document can be downloaded using the following LINK.

    Additionally, if you would like additional information regarding the YOLO County Study referenced in this episode, you can find the study using the following LINK. If you would like to watch/listen to a podcast regarding the YOLO County Study, you can find this information with the following LINK.
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    28 mins
  • Episode No. 76- Tennessee's Proposed Constitutional Amendment to Extend Preventative Detention

    Episode No. 76- Tennessee's Proposed Constitutional Amendment to Extend Preventative Detention
    Sep 18 2026

    On this episode of The Bail Post we look at the proposed Constitutional Amendment No. 1 for the State of Tennessee that will be on the ballot in November and its proposal to expand preventative detention. Our guests are Shelly Alexander and Eric Granof.
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    50 mins
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