If you have an extra five minutes on your hand and want to learn a little bit about the bail bond industry and its essential role in the criminal justice system, then take a listen to ExpertBail’s interview this morning with Joel Riley of WTVN in Columbus, Ohio.  ExpertBail’s Managing Director, Eric Granof, explains the overall bail bond process and why it is so effective at getting people back to court.  Additionally, Joel and Eric talk about taxpayer funded pretrial release programs and how they differ from commercial bail in both intent and performance.  Eric describes the difference between the two forms of release simply as social justice vs. criminal justice.  According to Eric, pretrial release programs were designed to deal with the social justice side of the equation (people who were indigent or had special needs) and bail was designed to deal with the criminal justice side of the equation (getting people to be accountable and show up for court).  The debate that is going on right now is in regards to where we need to draw the line between the two so that those with special needs get the help they need and those that are accused of a crime stay accountable to the system and show up for court.  Click on the orange arrow below to listen to the interview.