Inferno: Cashless Bail and the Collapse of Justice in Allegheny County

American Thinker ^ | 17 Nov, 2025 | Kelly Rae Robertson

[MtnClimber]

I began my career with Allegheny County Pretrial Services in April 2008.

I was sworn in by a judge, issued a badge, and placed into a system built on neutrality and public safety. Our job was simple: interview defendants, verify information, review police reports, pull complete criminal histories, and present magistrates with fact-based recommendations.

We weren’t advocates for release or detention. We were there to present facts. And for a long time, the system worked because facts were the only thing that mattered.

Failures to appear happened, but they were usually honest mistakes. Multiple pending cases were rare. Dangerous charges or a dangerous record meant detention; non-violent charges meant release. Rap sheets rarely exceeded fifteen pages. By the time I left, fifty-page criminal histories had become routine.

Deputy Director Paul Larkin set the standard that kept the system stable. With decades in the courts, he understood both the law and the operational realities. If a case required a bond revocation, he supported it. If someone was held on a bad warrant, he contacted the president judge and resolved it. As long as he was there, the system functioned.

In 2016, that changed. National organizations were pushing rapid decarceration, and the Arnold Foundation’s Public Safety Assessment — the PSA — arrived in our office. Paul warned it would dismantle the safeguards pretrial relied on. The tool ignored violent charges, violent histories, multiple pending cases, outstanding warrants, probation or parole status, and repeated failures to appear. It made release the default. Before he could stop it, Paul died at forty-eight. With him gone, internal resistance disappeared.

After his death, our director approved the PSA and promoted a close friend as deputy director. She rushed a full computer overhaul despite warnings it wasn’t ready. Reports printed at 150 pages. Charges scrambled. Dates disappeared.

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TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: anarchotyranny; civilization; crime; dystopia; leftism; pa; pennsylvania; pittsburgh

[MtnClimber]

Why are foundations and NGOs pushing for this? Is it an attempt to crash society?

[Jonty30]

The left always assumes power during chaos.

[FreedomPoster]

Absolutely so.

Crashing the system is what Obama was all about.

The question is, who is running it all? What does that cabal look like? Barry is not at the top.

[Phlyer]

Why are foundations and NGOs pushing for this? Is it an attempt to crash society?

Authority and responsibility always balance out, in the end. Since Socialism requires that the State holds all power (authority), then the State is the only entity that can be held responsible. As a result, individuals (whom the State want to hold no power/authority) cannot be responsible. It's always "Society's Fault".

And since that inevitably leads to increased crime, the solution is even more power/authority in the hands of the State - which suits the Socialists just fine.

[oldtech]

One has to ask....is it time to renew firing squads?

[airborne]

PA PING!

[Lockbox]

Is this happening in my city? I’m going to search. If I find the way to discover the answer, I will share. Citizens need to know the truth?

[Phlyer]

One has to ask....is it time to renew firing squads?

That's a very important question, because it recognizes that execution does not need a large, state-run, system. No electric chairs, gas chambers, or lethal injection chambers with witnesses, etc.

One of the great disservices of history for the US is to characterize the war from 1861 to 1865 as a "Civil" war. It was not. It was a war between the States. That won't happen again because "We, the People" do not think of ourselves as primarily citizens of a sovereign State, but as leftists and conservatives - and if geography is to be considered the primary factor, as urban and suburban/rural. I live in Texas, and Texas - as a state - would never again secede because Austin (the state Capitol) is very leftist. If we have another internal war, it will be a true Civil war where civilians do the fighting against either the federal government or other civilians.

To get back to your comment: Civilians can perform executions as firing squads - or even as individuals with a political agenda, as happened with Charlie Kirk. It's not "legal" in the normal sense, but it is typical for true "Civil" wars.

I think the case can be made that we are already engaged in a "Civil" war with Antifa and other leftists aggressors killing people who disagree with them. The real question is when or if the conservative side of the polarized political environment will start returning the decisions . . . with interest.

[faucetman]

Pennsylvania, in case anyone else was wondering.

“Kelly Rae Robertson is a former Allegheny County Pretrial Services investigator with fourteen and a half years in the Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania.”