Growing out of a community concern for disadvantaged youth held in detention awaiting trial, Canada’s first bail program offered the courts an alternative of community supervision. This initiative was launched in Kitchener-Waterloo in the early 1970s and its successor programs have been built on its legacy.

Youth in Conflict with the Law continues to offer a bail program for youth, 12-15, while the Waterloo Region Bail Program extends services to all adults, 16 and older. Tradition has established that both programs are generally referred to in the courts and the community as "Youth in Conflict."

The purpose of the bail programs is to provide pre-trial bail verification and bail supervision services to the courts and to accused persons, to minimize inappropriate pre-trial detention. The services are delivered in partnership with local social service providers to address the non-criminal issues facing the accused.

Program offices in Kitchener and Cambridge serve persons resident within the Regional Municipality of Waterloo. Clients are released on court ordered bail supervision from the bail court in Kitchener or the criminal courts in Kitchener and Cambridge.