Release on Own Recognizance (ROR)

Early History of Ror and Bail Reform

Because of the basic inequities inherent in the traditional bail system, which discriminates against poor defendants unable to raise the required bond, a bail reform movement was initiated in the early 1960s. The bail reform movement attempted to diminish the economic discrimination of the traditional system by emphasizing the defendant's character and community ties as significant criteria in determining the defendant's chances for pretrial release. Those defendants who satisfied these new criteria could be released on their own recognizance.

In 1961, the Vera Institute of Justice in New York City established the first bail reform project, the Manhattan Bail Project, which emphasized the use of these new nonmonetary release criteria. Staffed by law students from New York University, the project interviewed defendants and determined if they possessed the requisite community ties. Any qualified defendant was then recommended to the appropriate judge, who had the final word in granting an ROR. The bail reform project, it should be noted, was not an attempt to replace the money bail system but, rather, an attempt to reform and restructure the traditional system to better meet the needs of indigent defendants.

Following the initial success of the Manhattan Bail Project, nearly 200 similar projects began in cities across the country between 1961 and 1965. In 1966, the federal government joined the bail reform movement when Congress passed a law applicable to the federal courts. The law also specified for the first time that release on recognizance was to be the preferred method of pretrial release. The law further stated that, if ROR was not deemed appropriate, the judge should next consider a group of nonfinancial alternatives such as conditional release, third-party release, and property bonds. The law proved to be a catalyst for the further development of bail reform projects and nonfinancial alternatives at the state level. By 1971, thirty-seven states had enacted statutes authorizing the release of defendants on their own recognizance.

Research on the use of RORs and the performance of bail reform projects by Wayne Thomas in 1971 determined that nonfinancial releases (primarily RORs) were granted to 20 percent of the defendants charged with felonies and to 30 percent of defendants charged with misdemeanors. Despite these encouraging figures, Thomas discovered during his national survey that many projects were having problems. Their problems were the result of declining economic resources, delays in interviewing, self-imposed limitations by critical actors, shifts in allegiance to court priorities, and strict interpretation of eligibility criteria.

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