Nine counties will test an initiative that could allow people arrested for hundreds of nonviolent crimes to avoid jail.

The Kentucky Supreme Court selected Bell, Boone, Boyd, Butler, Campbell, Edmonson, Kenton, Ohio and Pike counties to try the cost-saving initiative for a year to determine if it should be expanded statewide.

Justice Will T. Scott said the move has the potential to save the state some $150 million a year in jail costs by allowing people arrested on any of more than 700 mostly misdemeanor charges to immediately post bail and go home without spending time behind bars unless they're later sentenced to incarceration.