NEW YORK, NY — New peer-reviewed research analyzing nearly 70,000 New York City criminal court arraignments finds that judges’ professional backgrounds are linked to higher rates of pretrial detention and cash bail, often producing harsher outcomes at a defendant’s first court appearance.
Oded Oren of Scrutinize and Chad M. Topaz of the QSIDE Institute examined arraignments from Jan. 1, 2020, through June 30, 2023, to assess the relationship between judges’ prior professional experience and their decisions on pretrial detention and cash bail.
Oren and Topaz identified a consistent trend showing that judges’ backgrounds influence their pretrial decisions, frequently resulting in more severe outcomes, according to Scrutinize research.
Scrutinize classifies arraignment judges into four professional background categories: law enforcement, including former state prosecutors, federal prosecutors or police officers; legal services, including public defenders and other legal services attorneys; both; or neither.
The research shows that judges with law enforcement backgrounds are 3.9% more likely to order detention at arraignment, and when cash bail is imposed, the likelihood of high cash bail increases to 32% compared with regular cash bail. The average bail set is approximately $9,200 per defendant.
Supplemental analysis of Office of Court Administration and Division of Criminal Justice Services data was conducted by cross-referencing named judges with information about their professional experience.
Scrutinize includes datasets generated from cross-referencing judges’ professional backgrounds, showing that detention rates for nonviolent felonies are 11%, while violent felonies reach as high as 69%, with misdemeanors at 22%. Bail rates are highest for violent felonies at 71%, compared with the 11% for nonviolent felonies and the 22% for misdemeanors.
Researchers are examining how professional background influences judicial decisions involving higher cash bail and more severe outcomes in violent felony, misdemeanor and nonviolent felony cases, as well as felony cases more broadly. The research, however, finds that judges with legal services backgrounds show no statistically significant difference in decisions involving pretrial detention and cash bail.
The Journal of Law and Courts reports that selection effects suggest individuals predisposed to certain views may enter law enforcement or legal roles and carry those preferences to the bench. The socialization account posits that professional norms and environments shape attitudes over time, reinforcing priorities related to public safety or the consequences of incarceration.
Policy outcomes are influenced by United States criminal justice policy, with professional background shaping outcomes from a defendant’s first court appearance. Law enforcement experience, the research indicates, increases the likelihood of pretrial detention.
According to Scrutinize, replacing one former law enforcement judge with a judge who has neither a law enforcement nor legal services background would result in fewer detention orders, fewer years of detention and reduced detention costs for New York City taxpayers by approximately $8.7 million, while also reducing cash bail by about $6 million.
The Journal of Law and Courts further suggests that the connection between law enforcement backgrounds and more severe pretrial decisions may reflect self-selection rather than gradual socialization, as longer time on the bench shows no additional effect.
Scrutinize research emphasizes the need to connect judges’ professional backgrounds to downstream outcomes for defendants, including recidivism.
Follow the Vanguard on Social Media – X, Instagram and Facebook. Subscribe the Vanguard News letters. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org/donate or give directly through ActBlue. Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.
