By the end of the 1950's, the U.S. Supreme Court had decided two cases dealing with bail, but these cases did not provide unambiguous guidance for bail practices. By that time, several studies had identified major problems with the bail system, and the seeds of support for revised bail procedures were planted. On the whole, the bail system was operating much as it had since the 19th century. In the 1960's, alternatives to bail release increased, including the expanded use of citations, third-party custody, conditional release, supervised release, and unsecured bond. The spread of these release types was accompanied by the establishment of formal pretrial release programs. The 1970's saw a continued expansion of pretrial release initiatives in some areas and retrenchment in others. By the end of the decade, however, there was widespread dissatisfaction with the release system, stemming primarily from disagreements over the goals and methods of the release system. In an effort to provide an empirical base for future development in release procedures, this national evaluation focuses on (1) the process by which release decisions are made and the release outcomes of those decisions, (2) released defendants' failure to appear, (3) pretrial criminality by defendants released pending trial, and (4) the impact of pretrial release programs. The evaluation methodology is outlined. Forty-nine footnotes are provided. For other documents in the evaluation report, see NCJ 81062-65.