NCJ Number
152544
Date Published
1994
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This analysis of recidivism among defendants who were freed pending trial despite Federal prosecutor efforts to detain concludes that these offenders did not pose a greater threat to the community than those released after processing by a pretrial services officer.
Abstract
Data came from the 50,198 Federal Pretrial Services Act cases closed in 1992. Results revealed that 3 percent of the defendants released despite the prosecutor's request for detention had bail violations involving the commission of a felony, mostly drug law offenses. However, only 0.3 percent committed a violent crime. This figure is similar to the 0.2 percent of released defendants whom the government did not seek to detain, yet who then committed a violent crime. Findings clearly indicated that most defendants whom the government feared would commit an act of violence did not do so. They were significantly more prone than other defendants to violate some other bail condition, but the threat that these defendants posed to the community during the period of pretrial release was statistically small. An analysis of the demographic profiles of felony violators reveals them to be disproportionately young, with a greater likelihood of having a prior criminal record than a defendant who did not commit a violation. Figures and tables