The Bail Reform Act of 1964 gave Federal judges the authority to consider the danger to the community in deciding whether to grant criminal defendants release prior to their trials. The legislative history of the Act indicates that the intention was to give judges the ability to detain a small group of particularly dangerous offenders for whom no conditions of release could reasonably ensure the safety of the public. Since that time, the Federal detainee population has steadily climbed, creating a crisis in the Federal criminal justice system. Jail space is often not available to house detainees in the districts where they will be tried so the United States Marshals Service which is responsible for the detainees finds itself transporting prisoners from distant locations. This has burdened the system because hearings must be scheduled around the detainees availability and defense attorneys pretrial services personnel and probation officers are hampered in their work by the inaccessibility of detainees. Perhaps the most significant factor in the increase in the detainee population has been the war on drugs. The Bail Reform Act includes a presumption that no conditions of release will assure the appearance at trial or the public safety when there is reasonable cause to believe the defendant has committed certain drug crimes. The war on drugs has increased the number of persons detained under this presumption. Other factors cited as contributing to the high number of detainees include the continued use of cash bail which some defendants cannot afford to pay, the influx of illegal aliens, the granting of continuances to counsel to prepare for detention hearings, decreased local jail space, mandatory minimum sentences and the temporary detention of persons who at the time of their offense were on parole, probation, pretrial release from another jurisdiction. The laws and policies that led to this crisis must be reexamined by the three branches of the Federal Government. 2 graphs