Despite the many differences in the criminal justice systems of Great Britain and the United States, both countries face common problems in the field of pretrial decisionmaking. The bail decision is a complex decision made relatively quickly with little reliable information. Bail information schemes recently tested in Britain suggest that policymakers recognize the need to classify cases on a scientific rather than an intuitive basis. Recent bail reform in the United States has been built on this premise and has progressed to the point of developing empirically derived, voluntary judicial guidelines for pretrial release. This work has implications for pretrial decisionmaking in general and the bail information schemes in particular. In the United States and in Britain, pretrial decisionmaking has traditionally been individualized. Judges take into account the "totality of the circumstances" in any given case. The guidelines concept, with its emphasis on structured discretion, inevitably causes a tension. This study provides support for empirically derived, self-help guidelines. In Britain, as in the United States, the alternative is a continuation of subjective decisionmaking, sometimes based on a sub rosa agenda and invariably in virtual ignorance of its consequences. 21 notes and 36 references