Does Variation Across Jurisdictions Matter? Examining the Effect of Bail and Pretrial Detention on Case Outcomes

• In Event: The Law in Action: Sentencing Policies and Guidelines on the Ground

Abstract

As calls for bail reform in the United States intensify, it is important to understand how jurisdictional variation in certain factors, such as bail schedules, can affect bail and pretrial detention outcomes, which subsequently, can directly affect case outcomes for justice-involved individuals. This presentation examines the interconnected relationship between jurisdiction, bail, pretrial detention and case outcomes using a sample of felony drug cases filed in the state of Florida in 2017 (n = 3,058). The results from a series of two-level multilevel logistic and linear regressions with cases nested within circuits point to bail and pretrial detention practices as disparity-producing mechanisms. That is, variations in bail practices (i.e., bail schedules) across judicial circuits in Florida contribute to jurisdictional variations in the likelihood of pretrial detention. This increased likelihood of pretrial detention in certain jurisdictions, in turn, increases the likelihood that drug defendants within these jurisdictions may obtain more unfavorable case outcomes, given the findings that defendants detained pretrial receive more punitive case outcomes. Thus, drug defendants, who are otherwise similarly situated, may receive substantially different case outcomes across different judicial circuits because of the jurisdictional differences in bail schedules. These findings have implications for bail reform in the United States.

Author

• Daniela Oramas Mora, George Mason University