I got arrested 26 months ago. I'd gone back to the hospital with a court order that said the hospital's behavior was not in compliance with the law, and that th

I got arrested 26 months ago. I'd gone back to the hospital with a court order that said the hospital's behavior was not in compliance with the law, and that they had to let their patient (my friend) go. I made the mistake of going without a police escort. The ER staff didn't know that their employer actually had no legal authority to hold their patient in their psychiatric ward. I called the police and was patiently waiting for their help to enforce the court's order, but before the police arrived I irritated one of the security guards and they all attacked me. I was charged with 'misdemeanor assault' and was released on my own recognizance after a night at the city jail. Two months later I got the police report, and learned what I'd allegedly done. 9 months later I learned the "old man" security guard that freaked out on me was a retired police officer. He knew exactly what to say to the responding officer to cover his ass, and was well-practiced at testifying on the stand. It's easy to make shit up if you know what you're doing. His co-conspirator was kind of a doofus - he'd been a hospital security guard for 20+ years. Two months after my trial, my girlfriend got arrested - her court-ordered mental health professionals didn't think her substance use was of any concern to them, and were heroically treating her presenting systems without any concern as to their cause. While I was arrested for assault (misdemeanor/victim), she was arrested for heroin possession (felony/victimless). Her bail was $5000. The various bail bondsmen I called weren't interested, or wanted more collateral than I had - apparently people arrested for drug charges have a tendency to not show up for their court dates. She spent 2 weeks in jail while her attorney negotiated with the justice system on her behalf. (The system she was arrested into has since made some efforts to keep people out of the jails, or to reduce bails, but I don't know how these changes would've affected her experience...) In a separate anecdote, my ex-wife recently picked a fight with her then-boyfriend (California). He responded to her provocation by escalating the fight into a very physical confrontation. Bystanders called the police, he got arrested... Bond was set for $50,000. He bailed himself out by charging $5,000 to his credit card with a bail bondsman. The charges were dropped a few days later. The bondsman apparently got to keep all $5,000 (edit: I think the term 'racket' applies). I don't know that an algorithmic approach to justice will be much help at this stage, because the system is so corrupt. Any algorithm will have to start with "Is there an actual victim [0]? No: release without bond. Yes: [...]". I don't think the system will take well to considering that they've spent decades making work for themselves... [0] I learned about 'strict liability' from a HN comment - thanks, whoever that was. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strict_liability https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strict_liability