Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-rvbq7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T06:49:46.328Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Limits of Bail Reform: A Quasi-Experimental Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2024

Roy B. Flemming ,
C. W. Kohfeld  and
Thomas M. Uhlman
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study of bail reform in a large urban court employs an interrupted time-series research design spanning a six-year period, and examines case data for over 38,000 defendants. Two reforms—creation of a pretrial release agency and adoption of deposit bail—are evaluated to determine whether they had statistically significant impacts on the likelihood of pretrial release, the probability of financial losses for defendants, and the avoidance of bondsmen in the pretrial process. Weighted regression analysis was used to compensate for the possibility of autocorrelation in the time-series data. The reforms proved a mixed success. Explanations for these findings emphasize the role of previous policy patterns and procedural rules in restraining the scope of bail reform and the political forces encouraging the use of bail for preventive detention.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , Summer 1980 , pp. 947 - 976
Copyright
Copyright © 1981 The Law and Society Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

This is a revised version of a paper presented to the 1979 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association in Washington, D.C. The authors wish to thank Michael Lewis-Beck for his comments on an earlier draft.

References

ARES, Charles E., Anne, RANKIN, and Herbert, STURTZ (1963) “The Manhattan Bail Project: An Interim Report on the Use of Pre-Trial Parole,” 38 New York University Law Review 67.Google Scholar
ANGEL, Arthur R., GREEN, Eric, KAUFMAN, Henry, and Eric VAN, LOON (1971) “Preventive Detention: An Empirical Analysis,” 6 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 300.Google Scholar
CAMPBELL, Donald T. and Julian C., STANLEY (1963) Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
COOK, Thomas D. and Donald T., CAMPBELL (1976) “The Design and Conduct of Quasi-Experiments and True Experiments in Field Settings,” in Dunnett, M. D. (ed.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
DILL, Forrest D. (1972) “Bail and Bail Reform: A Sociological Study,” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
EISENSTEIN, James and Herbert, JACOB (1977) Felony Justice: An Organizational Analysis of Criminal Courts. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
FLEMMING, Roy B. (1977) “Allocating Freedom and Punishment: Pretrial Release Policies in Detroit and Baltimore,” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
GLASS, Gene V., WILLSON, Victor L., and John M., GOTTMAN (1975) Design and Analysis of Time-Series Experiments. Boulder: Colorado Associated University Press.Google Scholar
HANUSHEK, Eric and John E., JACKSON (1977) Statistical Methods for Social Scientists. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
JOHNSTON, John (1972) Econometric Methods (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
NATIONAL CENTER FOR STATE COURTS (1975) An Evaluation of Policy Related Research on the Effectiveness of Pretrial Release Programs. Denver: National Center for State Courts.Google Scholar
NIMMER, Raymond T. (1978) The Nature of System Change. Chicago: American Bar Foundation.Google Scholar
PACKER, Herbert L. (1968) The Limits of the Criminal Sanction. Stanford: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PRESSMAN, Jeffrey L. and Aaron B., WILDAVSKY (1973) Implementation. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
SILVERSTEIN, Lee (1966) “Bail in the State Courts—A Field Study and Report,” 50 Minnesota Law Review 621.Google Scholar
THOMAS, Wayne H. Jr. (1976) Bail Reform in America. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
THOMAS, Wayne H. Jr. (1977) Pretrial Release Programs. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice.Google Scholar
UHLMAN, Thomas M. (1979) Racial Justice. Lexington: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
WICE, Paul B. (1974) Freedom for Sale: A National Study of Pretrial Release. Lexington: Lexington Books.Google Scholar