The Effects of Pre-Trial Detention on Conviction, Future Crime, and Employment: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges

Will Dobbie, Jacob Goldin and Crystal Yang
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Jacob Goldin: Stanford Law School and U.S. Department of the Treasury
Crystal Yang: Harvard Law School

Working Papers from Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.

Abstract: Over 20 percent of prison and jail inmates in the United States are currently awaiting trial, but little is known about the impact of pre-trial detention on defendants. This paper uses the detention tendencies of quasi-randomly assigned bail judges to estimate the causal effects of pre-trial detention on subsequent defendant outcomes. Using data from administrative court and tax records, we find that being detained before trial significantly increases the probability of a conviction, primarily through an increase in guilty pleas. Pre-trial detention has no detectable effect on future crime, but decreases pre-trial crime and failures to appear in court. We also find suggestive evidence that pre-trial detention decreases formal sector employment and the receipt of employment- and tax-related government benefits. We argue that these results are consistent with (i) pre-trial detention weakening defendants' bargaining position during plea negotiations, and (ii) a criminal conviction lowering defendants' prospects in the formal labor market.

Keywords: Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania; Miami-Dade County, Florida (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J70 K14 K42 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-08
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The Effects of Pretrial Detention on Conviction, Future Crime, and Employment: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges (2018)
Working Paper: The Effects of Pre-Trial Detention on Conviction, Future Crime, and Employment: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges (2016)
Working Paper: The Effects of Pre-Trial Detention on Conviction, Future Crime, and Employment: Evidence from Randomly Assigned Judges (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pri:indrel:601

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