EASTHAMPTON, MASS – For the criminal legal system, pretrial detention is a form of assurance of court attendance, but, according to a recent study, it carries with it harmful jail conditions, jeopardizes employment and increases risk of death.
The Prison Policy Initiative recently conducted a study to examine the impacts of pretrial detention on the individual in custody within the 72 hour period that follows initiation, and found even a minimal period in jail results in short and long-term risks that affect people individually and in their communities.
Researchers at PPI found that the risk of rearrest increases upon being detained. After one-day, there was a 24 percent increased risk of being rearrested. After five days, the increased risk was 46 percent.
At Virginia Law Review, researchers revealed through survey responses gauging comparisons of time spent in jail to being the victim of a crime, “Most said that spending just one day in jail would be as bad as being the victim of a burglary, and a month would be as bad as an aggravated assault.”
The PPI found that at arraignment hearings, judges must decide whether to detain the accused in the /likelihood that they may commit a new crime or believe that they are likely to return to court if they are released.
As a result, many accused individuals must remain in pretrial detention because they are unable to afford bail. PPI discovered approximately two-thirds of people who are initially detained (62 percent) spend a week or less in jail.
And, added PPI, two groups are then formed—one in which detainees are immediately released and another where accused individuals are later released while their trial is still pending.
The PPI study also argued that despite its initial creation for protection, there is no evidence to support that detaining people ensures public safety.
A 2022 study by Arnold Ventures, a philanthropy that tackles pressing social problems in the U.S., found from a dataset of 1.5 million people detained from 2009 to 2018 that each day a person spent in pretrial detention had strong association with risk of a new arrest when that detainee was later released before the end of their trial.
Other ways of ensuring court attendance exist, notes PPI because oftentimes, people are missing court appearances for fear of loss of employment, transportation or having no alternative supervision for their children.
A study from Kentucky done by PPI found that the chances a person would miss court were actually higher for those who were detained. Detainees were six percent more likely to miss court after being held for one day and 26 percent more likely after 11 days.
As a form of injustice to the legal process, pretrial detention places the accused in a situation of pressure to plead guilty, neglecting the truth of their innocence or not, said PPI, adding people detained pretrial must then be jailed regardless and are more likely to receive longer sentences.
According to a 2021 PPI study, death, specifically by suicide increases linearly as more days are spent detained and found “20 percent of all adult suicides in the U.S. in 2019 were among people who had spent at least one night in jail in the past year.”
According to the same study, pretrial detention has resulted in missed work and lost jobs. Even between four and seven days of detention, 62 percent of detainees missed work. In that same range of days, 37 percent lost their jobs entirely and detainees were 30 percent more likely to lose government benefits following their arrest as opposed to those who were released.
Alternatives to ensuring public safety that are not pretrial detention can be implemented, argues PPI, which suggests, “Creating diversion opportunities at multiple points in the legal process, especially before and directly after arrest; Ending cash bail; Providing public defenders at first court appearance to ensure people’s unique circumstances are communicated to decision-makers.”
PPI noted the development of group-based pretrial support and encouragement towards judges and prosecutors to be more thoughtful in the impacts of their decision-making can lead to a reformed atmosphere of public safety amongst communities.
PPI also said taking steps at reform earlier in the legal process can prevent the outcomes that pretrial detention creates, by reducing police contact, limiting jail capacity to reduce reliance on pretrial detention and decriminalizing drugs, poverty, sex work, and homelessness.
