Assessing the Effects of Bail Reform: Evidence from Virginia

• In Event: Using the Virginia Pretrial Data Project to Address Theoretical, Empirical & Policy Related Issues

Abstract

In 2021, the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation to repeal the presumption of no-bail provisions. Prior to this enactment, the law had specified the list of offenses for which the judicial officer must presumptively deny bail for a defendant. Since the law was officially repealed in July 2021, there has been a growing interest in the field of criminal justice to examine the overall effect of it on the existing pretrial system in Virginia. However, comprehensive state-wide pretrial data was not easily obtainable to conduct the systematic analyses on this topic until the creation of Virginia’s Pretrial Data Project. Utilizing updated Virginia Pretrial Data from Calendar Year (CY) 2018 to CY2022, we will analyze the effects of this bail reform on various facets of the pretrial system in the state, including the changes in detention/release rates, release mechanism, bond amounts, pretrial outcomes (e.g., court appearance or new arrest), etc. The findings from this research are expected to inform researchers, policy makers, and practitioners of various implications of major bail reform in Virginia and provide insights into whether there were any intended or unintended consequences to it.

Authors

• Meredith Farrar-Owens, Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission

• Chang Kwon, Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission

• Catherine Chen, Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission