What about on the other end: an automated system to assign bail amounts? Plug in charges + criminal history + financial status into a system that determines bail. That way it's in the hands of a computer and there is no blowback to a particular judge/prosecutor/etc.
Then any judgment is removed from the system. Judges can abuse that power, and they can have bad judgment, but an algorithm has no judgment at all. Worse, you can get people turning off their mind as to whether it made any sense, because "that's what the computer said".
Hmm. Actually, the algorithm could be very transparent. It would be there to consistently apply the rules. If the rules were too harsh, and not effective in some way, they can be tuned.
The algorithm could be as simple as:
first time offender, non violent case, 0 bond
second time offender, non violent case, 100 bond
etc.
Another idea that may benefit all would be to force people who have gone through the system to create a bond "deposit account". Like a health savings account. This amount could be collected slowly over time -- forced deductions from pay.
People without jobs or money -- must be released without bond then, in the case of non-violent crimes.
