One of the hardest things for judges to do is set bail. How do you measure a flight risk? How are you making sure bail is set fairly for people of all ethic, income and social status levels? And most importantly, are you helping or hurting the chances that the defendant will commit another violent crime?

Well, it turns out there’s an app for that — or, at least, an algorithm. And come December, officials will be testing it right here in Kane County.

Kane County’s 16th Circuit Court will be piloting a “New Model Bond Court,” which actually uses an algorithm to help determine bail. Some say the risk-management tool can accurately measure, and very likely will reduce, new criminal activity.

Judge Judith Brawka and other officials unveiled the program at the Sept. 10 Kane County Judicial and Public Safety Committee meeting. Brawka said the risk assessment is “a better public-protection tool” and might be a model for courts throughout the United States.

The New York Times ran an excellent article on the topic in June touting the pilot program that’s being rolled out in 21 jurisdictions across the county — in states like Arizona and New Jersey and cities like Chicago and Pittsburgh. The program was developed at a cost of about $1.2 million by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, and it uses a pretrial interview and an algorithm that scores defendants’ likelihood to commit a crime and their risk of skipping out on the next court date.

Brawka said the goal would be to conduct assessments within 24 hours of a felony arrest.

“We are going to be first liners, along with sheriff and other law-enforcers, to (arrange) assessments and set conditions for release,” Brawka said.

Among the problems with the existing system is that some high-risk defendants get released because they have the money and some low-risk defendants are kept in jail too long because they don’t have the money — keeping them away from jobs and families and actually increasing the chances they’ll commit another crime.

The pilot program makes bail more of a science than a “Carnac the Magnificent” prophesy.

Here’s how the pilot program will work in Kane County:

The New Model Bond Court will administer a risk assessment to anyone charged with a felony. The assessment tool will measure two factors: the flight risk and the potential for new criminal activity and violent criminal activity. Low-risk defendants can be released, medium-risk defendants may be released with conditions, high-risk defendants won’t be released.

Right now, Kane County’s 16th Circuit Court processes about 2,400 felony cases a year. Court services has only two pretrial officers, which can’t possibly process felony cases even up to the level of present statutory guidelines. So how is this new model pilot program going to get implemented?

The Administrative Offices of the Illinois Court has agreed to fund nine new positions. According to a resolution passed by the County Board on Sept. 10, Court Services will receive $225,954 in 2015 and $401,493 in 2016 to fund the positions and training. Additional funding will come from transferring probation fees into the General Fund.

The Kane County Court Services Department in coordination with the state administrative office, the Arnold Foundation and Luminosity will provide training to stakeholders, including the judiciary, State’s Attorney’s Office, Public Defender, law enforcement and probation personnel.

The idea is that this kind of pretrial program ultimately will reduce costs.

A report published by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation titled “The Hidden Cost of Pretrial Detention” shows that detaining low- and moderate-risk defendants, even just of a few days, is strongly correlated with higher rates of criminal activity, both during the pretrail period and years after.

When held two to three days, low-risk defendants are 40 percent more likely to commit new crimes before trial. When held eight to 14 days, low-risk defendants are 51 percent more likely to commit another crime within two years.

After a similar, year-long pilot program in Charlotte, NC, the jail population is down almost 20 percent, according to the New York Times article.

“It’s saved the community a lot of tax dollars,” said R. Andrew Murray, the Mecklenburg County, NC, district attorney, who was an initial skeptic of the program. Charlotte used the risk-management tool that included the face-to-face interview.

In Arizona, the state is expanding the program from four counties and one city to all 15 counties “after judges had clamored for change,” the article said.

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Arnold Foundation: More Than 20 Cities and States Adopt Risk-Management Tool