http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/06/bail_is_unfair_here_s_a_simple_way_to_fix_it.html

On Sunday, John Oliver devoted the majority of his HBO show to America’s broken bail system. “Bail” is the cash or property equivalent demanded of arrestees as surety—an assurance that they will return to court to face trial on the charges they have been accused of. The theory goes like this: Make someone put up $500 (or $500,000) and he’ll return to court, if only to get his money back. And while this sounds fine in theory, in practice it has become nothing more than a shockingly effective way to coerce guilty pleas from poor people.