Pretrial Release Decisions in a Local Jail: Examining the Role of Race/Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status

• In Event: A Focus on Jails: The Role of Local Justice Systems in Shaping Jail Usage and Recidivism

Abstract

In light of the considerable social and economic costs of America’s system of mass incarceration, there is a growing consensus that we need to scale back the number of people housed in state and federal prisons. Yet despite the fact that about 18 times as many people enter and exit jails as prisons on an annual basis, jails are often missing from discussions of our nation’s overreliance on incarceration. This is an important oversight, as jails are the gateway to the criminal justice system and are critical to understanding a range of downstream consequences, including sources of justice system inequality. In the current investigation we draw on local correctional data from a large Florida county to examine disparities in pretrial release across race/ethnic and socioeconomic lines. In particular, we examine factors associated with the type of pretrial release, the use of money bail, and the bail amount among all bail-eligible inmates. In addition, we assess a series of interactions to determine whether pretrial release decisions vary according to inmates’ race/ethnicity and/or socioeconomic status. We offer recommendations for future research and policy, including ways to more effectively—and fairly—manage pretrial populations in local jails.

Authors

• Jennifer Copp, Florida State University

• William D. Bales, Florida State University

• Thomas G. Blomberg, Florida State University

• George Pesta, Florida State University