Cash Bail and Communities

• In Event: Pretrial Release Assessments & Bail

Abstract

Research examining incarceration in jails has grown in recent years. Much of this work has focused explicitly on pretrial detainees; that is, those individuals housed within local jails who have yet to be convicted and are thus legally presumed innocent. Most pretrial detainees remain in custody, rather than awaiting trial in the community, due to their inability to pay the cash bail amount set in their case by a judge. A growing body of research has documented the consequences of pretrial detention, including work focused squarely on the harms associated with money bail. However, this work has focused primarily on the consequences of pretrial detention and money bail for defendants, largely neglecting the potential spillover effects of these practices on broader communities. Drawing on administrative and census data, we examine the spatial distribution of cash bail across census tracts in a large county in the southeastern U.S. and explore the community-level factors associated with the practice of assigning cash bail. Our findings underscore that despite the short- and long-run effects of pretrial policies and practices on defendants highlighted in prior work, the toll of pretrial decisions—and the decision to issue money bail in particular—extends far beyond the accused.

Authors

• William Casey, Clemson University

• Jennifer E. Copp, Florida State University