The role of bail and pretrial detention in the reproduction of racial inequalities

Menefee, Michael

doi:10.1111/soc4.12576

Cited by 27 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…While pretrial detention disparities are important in and of themselves, as they indicate that the “the process is the punishment” (Feeley ) for many black defendants, they also contribute to inequalities in later case outcomes. In line with prior studies finding adverse case outcomes for felony pretrial detainees (Jones ; Schlesinger ; Lee ; Stevenson ; Dobbie, Goldin, and Yang ; Menefee ), our results indicate that defendants detained for longer periods are more likely to plead guilty, and once convicted they are sentenced to jail at higher rates. These findings are consistent with other research indicating that detention time plays a key role in generating guilty pleas (Feeley ; Rabinowitz ; Pelvin ; Kohler‐Hausmann ), highlighting the need for temporal measures of pretrial detention.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Other research on lower‐level courts reveals racial–ethnic disparities at multiple stages of the court process (Kutateladze, Andiloro, and Johnson ; Owens, Kerrison, and Santos Da Silveira ), which accumulate as defendants traverse through lower‐level courts (Harcourt and Ludwig, ; Heaton, Mayson, and Stevenson ). For example, Heaton, Mayson, and Stevenson () find that increased levels of pretrial detention among low‐income misdemeanants of color in Harris County (Texas) elevate their risk of conviction and incarceration in ways that are consistent with prior research on felonies (Jones ; Schlesinger ; Lee ; Stevenson ; Menefee ; Dobbie, Goldin, and Yang ). This compounding process is likely exaggerated in lower‐level cases because pretrial detention may be more severe than any formal sanctions defendants might receive (Feeley ; Heaton, Mayson, and Stevenson ; Kohler‐Hausmann ).…”

Section: Theorizing the Role Of Race–ethnicity In The Age Of Mass Mismentioning

confidence: 59%

“…The desire to avoid this potential loss of employment and economic hardship, along with the inability to pay bail, often triggers guilty pleas (Rabinowitz ; Natapoff ; Pelvin ), and numerous studies have found that pretrial detention negatively affects case outcomes (for recent reviews, see Jones ; Schlesinger ; Lee ; Stevenson ; Menefee ; Dobbie, Goldin, and Yang ). Pretrial detainees plead guilty more quickly (Sacks and Ackerman ), accepting less advantageous plea deals compared to those arising from lengthier plea negotiations (Kellough and Wortley ; Cheng ; Euvrard and Leclerc ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, convicted defendants are sentenced to jail or noncarceral sanctions, which we estimate via logistic regression. Given prior research linking pretrial detention and punishment outcomes (Jones ; Schlesinger ; Lee ; Stevenson ; Menefee ; Dobbie, Goldin, and Yang ), we included the number of days in pretrial detention in the conviction and sentencing models. In addition, our sentencing models included the hazard rate of conviction to adjust for potential selection effects.…”

Section: Research Design and Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

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Is the Process the Only Punishment?: Racial–Ethnic Disparities in Lower‐Level Courts

Petersen

Omori

2020

Law & Policy

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Although misdemeanors make up the bulk of criminal cases in the United States, the majority of research on court decision-making examines felony sentencing. In contrast to felony courts, lower-level courts are characterized by higher case volumes and increased reliance on informal sanctions, which may contribute to greater racial-ethnic disparities. To assess this possibility, we examine pretrial detention and case processing outcomes for misdemeanants in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Utilizing temporal (detention time) and monetary (bond amount) measures of pretrial detention, we assess whether and to what extent there are racial-ethnic disparities in formal and informal sanctions facing misdemeanants. Results indicate that black defendants, especially black Latinx defendants, face greater informal sanctions (longer detention and higher bond amounts), are more likely to be convicted, and experience more severe formal sanctions than do white non-Latinx defendants. These findings complicate Feeley's (1979) argument about lower-level cases, revealing that black defendants are punished by both the court process and formal sanctions. In this way, "the process is the punishment" for lower-level white and nonwhite defendants, while the punishment is also the punishment for black defendants.Racial and ethnic inequalities in US incarceration rates have dramatically risen over the past several decades, and as a result, black men are six times more likely to be incarcerated than white men (Sentencing Project 2017). Although much attention has been devoted to the causes and consequences of racialized mass incarceration in the US, relatively less attention has been given to the larger, and perhaps less visible, forms of criminal justice social control in lower-level courts (Murakawa and Beckett 2010;Kohler-Hausmann 2018). Due to the expansion of broken windows policing and other lower-level law enforcement strategies, the misdemeanor arrest rate has increased threefold in recent decades (Murakawa and Beckett 2010; Lum and Vovak 2018). 1 While a large proportion of misdemeanants are people of color (Kohler-Hausmann 2018), and racial-ethnic disparities in lower-level proactive policing strategies have been well documented (Fagan et al. 2016), few studies have examined racial-ethnic inequalities in lower-level court processing.This gap in the literature has important implications for our understandings of racialethnic disparities in case processing more broadly. Misdemeanors and other lower-level cases differ from felonies in several ways, being characterized by higher caseloads, We would like to thank the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and its Greater Miami Chapter. We would also like to thank our research assistants on the project:

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Theorizing the Role Of Race–ethnicity In The Age Of Mass Mismentioning

confidence: 59%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Research Design and Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

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Is the Process the Only Punishment?: Racial–Ethnic Disparities in Lower‐Level Courts

Petersen

Omori

2020

Law & Policy

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“…This blend of policy and court actor discretion varies across stages (Bushway & Forst, 2013; Bushway & Piehl, 2001). For example, inequality in pretrial detention decisions may stem both from an institutional source (bond schedules and detention policies) and from how judges are implementing decisions (Menefee, 2017). Conviction decisions stem from the power of mandatory minimums and other prosecutorial charging policies (Engen, 2009; Fischman & Scanzenbach, 2012), as well as from the leverage gained through pretrial detention (Jones, 2013; Martinez et al., 2019; Schlesinger, 2007; Stevenson, 2016), implemented through prosecutors (Bushway & Forst, 2013).…”

Section: Institutionalized Inequality In Criminal Courtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutionalizing inequality in the courts: Decomposing racial and ethnic disparities in detention, conviction, and sentencing*

Omori

Petersen

2020

Criminology

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A significant body of literature has examined racial and ethnic inequalities in sentencing, focusing on how individual court actors make decisions, but fewer scholars have examined whether disparities are institutionalized through legal case factors. After finding racial and ethnic inequalities in pretrial detention, conviction, and incarceration based on 4 years of felony court data (N = 83,924) from Miami‐Dade County, we estimate nonlinear decomposition models to examine how much of the inequalities are explained by differences in criminal history, charging, and for conviction and incarceration, pretrial detention. Results suggest that inequality is greatest between White non‐Latinos and Black Latinos, followed by White non‐Latinos and Black non‐Latinos, ranging from 4 to more than 8 percentage points difference in the probability of pretrial detention, 7–13 points difference in conviction, 5–6 points in prison, and 4–10 points difference in jail. We find few differences between White non‐Latinos and White Latinos. Between half and three‐quarters of the inequality in pretrial detention, conviction, and prison sentences between White non‐Latino and Black people is explained through legal case factors. Our findings indicate that inequality is, in part, institutionalized through legal case factors, suggesting these factors are not “race neutral” but instead racialized and contribute to inequalities in court outcomes.

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Bail Reform in the United States: The What, Why, and How of Third Wave Efforts

Zottola

Clarke

Desmarais

2021

Handbook of Issues in Criminal Justice Reform in the United States

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Bail is the practice of using money or property as an assurance that a person charged with a criminal offense will return for their scheduled court dates and not engage in criminal activity during the pretrial period. However, there is limited evidence supporting bail as an intervention in these ways, despite the steady increase in both the use and amount of bail since the late 1980s. Instead, bail is widely criticized for emphasizing resource-based decisions that have unnecessarily increased rates of pretrial detention in the United States and have contributed to cumulative and disproportionate disadvantage for people of color and low-income people involved in the American legal system. Consequently, there is widespread agreement that bail reform is needed and, yet, what this means in policy and practice is widely contested. In this chapter, we review bail decision-making practices, their impact overall and for marginalized groups, and bail reform efforts over time, including ongoing challenges or concerns.

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The role of bail and pretrial detention in the reproduction of racial inequalities

Cited by 27 publications

References 37 publications

Is the Process the Only Punishment?: Racial–Ethnic Disparities in Lower‐Level Courts

Is the Process the Only Punishment?: Racial–Ethnic Disparities in Lower‐Level Courts

Institutionalizing inequality in the courts: Decomposing racial and ethnic disparities in detention, conviction, and sentencing*

Bail Reform in the United States: The What, Why, and How of Third Wave Efforts

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