Locked up and awaiting trial: Testing the criminogenic and punitive effects of spending a week or more in pretrial detention

Abstract

Research summaryThis study provides a rigorous assessment of the public safety benefits of pretrial detention by estimating the criminogenic and punitive effects of spending at least 1 week in pretrial detention across three jail systems in two states. We use a doubly robust difference‐in‐differences design to show that pretrial detention increases the odds for someone to miss a court appearance or be arrested by roughly 50% and increases the odds of convictions by 36%. This evidence was support by a series of supplemental analyses demonstrating that spending more than 1 day and spending more than 3 days in pretrial detention increased the odds of negative pretrial outcomes compared to someone who was booked and released from jail. The findings of this study provide evidence that pretrial detention can be counterproductive to public safety in that it leads to increased likelihood that individuals will miss court and be arrested for new crimes.Policy implicationsJails are a unique criminal justice contact point because they hold individuals at different stages of case processing, including individuals awaiting trial, and those serving shorter sentences or waiting to be transferred to prison. Pretrial release is arguably one of the most consequential decisions in case processing for an individual. Combining our findings with the punitive and collateral effects of time spent in pretrial detention signals a need for policies to identify effective methods of release that maximize liberty, safety, and equity and minimize the criminogenic effects of pretrial detention. Jails are inhabited with pretrial detainees, detention makes outcomes worse for these detainees, and detention does not deliver on public safety as intended. We argue that a more limited and targeted use of pretrial detention is needed and more research attention on alternatives to pretrial detention.