NCJ Number
153475
Date Published
1992
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Data from 2,127 defendants released on three different bond types in Cook County (Ill.) revealed high levels of missed court dates and arrests for new crimes, particularly among defendants released on their own recognizance to ease crowding at the Cook County Jail.
Abstract
The study began in early 1989 and focused on defendants released on court deposit bonds, those receiving court recognizance bonds, and those receiving Administrative Mandatory Furlough from the Cook County Department of Corrections between September and December 1988. Results revealed that defendants released on Administrative Mandatory Furlough (jail I-bonds) bonds had higher rates of bond forfeiture, rearrest, and reincarceration than defendants released on the other two bond types. Nearly half of the men and one-third of the women released on jail I-bonds were rearrested at least once before the final disposition of their original cases; more than half of both men and women released on these bonds received at least one bond forfeiture for failing to appear in court. Pretrial failures ranged from 11 percent to 39 percent among the defendants released on the other bond types. Assuming that the study sample is representative of its larger population, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority estimates that 30,000 defendants receive at least one pretrial release during a year in Cook County and eventually account for nearly 60,000 additional criminal justice transactions before case disposition. Tables and reference lists