Recently, the legislature passed a measure to change how bail is determined in Wisconsin. It has passed twice in consecutive legislative sessions, which means that it will now head to our April ballot as a constitutional amendment. How bail is determined is critically...
pre-trial detention
When does the use of jailhouse snitches violate people’s rights?
Once a person has a criminal defense lawyer, the government should only communicate through that lawyer. It should never go behind the lawyer’s back and attempt to continue to interrogate the client. Doing so is a violation of the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel in...
10 principles for reducing mass incarceration
In the United States, we incarcerate more of our population than any other country in the world. In fact, while the U.S. makes up less than 5% of the world’s population, it is responsible for locking up almost 25% of all the prisoners in the world. Even if the system...
Bail reform is actually working, but the story isn’t getting through, especially in election season
By now you have almost certainly seen many election ads scaring people about any candidate who advocates bail reform. They are accused of wanting to put killers and rapists on the streets to commit more crime. Paired with sometimes misleading crime statistics, these...
Held pretrial for 4 years, 2 men were exonerated and are now suing
It was a shocking and terrible crime. In 2016, two gunmen acted in concert to drive partygoers to a Pittsburgh-area house’s back porch and then shoot them. Five people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were killed. A sixth person was paralyzed and died...
Does releasing people before trial drive up crime rates?
When deciding who needs to remain in jail as they await trial, courts in most states should consider two things. First, is the person a danger to the community? If they are, pre-trial detention may be justified. Second, is the person a flight risk? In other words, how...
New federal bill would release more drug defendants before trial
Pre-trial detention can be devastating. Imagine being accused of a crime and told you have no choice but to wait in jail until trial. This could happen because you’re assigned bail that you can’t afford or because bail has been denied altogether. It’s not supposed to...
Do pretrial risk assessment tools produce good results?
It's a travesty when people are stuck behind bars for months or even years before they have even been convicted of a crime. However, there are sometimes good reasons to deny a person bail, such as when they are an obvious flight risk or a clear danger to the...
What can we gain from pretrial risk assessments?
One of the great injustices in today's justice system is that so many people are punished long before they have been found guilty.They are punished by being kept in pretrial detention for months or even years, either because they were denied bail or because they could...
Pretrial detention makes convictions, long sentences more likely
Recently, criminal justice reform advocates have pointed out a fundamental unfairness in our system. People who can afford bail are allowed to continue their lives while under criminal charges. People who cannot are held in pretrial detention, often until their...