Pretrial detention drives a large share of Black-White sentence disparity

Evidence

Research also shows that pretrial detention is one of the most powerful sources of disparity. The decision to detain is important in itself given its obvious impact on defendants’ ability to retain employment and family ties. Yet this decision is also consequential because it affects defendants’ likelihood of pleading guilty (Patterson & Lynch, 1991) and their final sentence (Spohn & Holleran, 2000). There is a clear pattern of minorities being disadvantaged at this stage. Poor minority defendants who are unable to post bail and therefore unable to get released from jail before trial are more likely to plead guilty and accept longer incarceration sentences. One recent study found that bail and pretrial detention contribute to 30 percent to 47 percent of the explained Black-White disparity in conviction and pleading guilty, being incarcerated, and receiving a longer incarceration sentence (Donnelly & MacDonald, 2018). While it is true that prosecutors do not fully make pretrial detention decisions, in most jurisdictions they play a powerful role through recommending detention, release on bail, or release on one’s own recognizance. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 562

Categorization

• XREF: For the bias-in-law volume: shows an administrative/detention mechanism producing measured disparity through wealth, not explicit animus — relevant to the sincere-conviction-vs-measured-bias gap.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 562