Pretrial Detention and Guilty Pleas: If They Cannot Afford Bail They Must Be Guilty

This study analyzes the impact of pretrial detention on the timing of disposition and on defendants’ decisions to plead guilty. Using a final sample of 634 cases initiated between October 18 and 24, 2004, collected from New Jersey’s Criminal Disposition Commission, the researchers conducted multivariate regression analyses utilizing two variables: (1) a binary variable assessing whether the case was disposed before or after indictment; and (2) a continuous variable measuring the number of days that elapsed between the date bail was set and the final disposition. The researchers supplemented the quantitative data with interviews of the judiciary and firsthand observations of bail proceedings. The results confirmed the researchers’ hypothesis that cases in which defendants were held prior to trial were disposed of faster than those where defendants were released to the community. Individuals held in jail pre-trial were more likely to engage in plea negotiations to find some way to be released. Cases involving public defenders and Caucasian defendants had shorter disposition times than those with private attorneys and black or Hispanic defendants, respectively. By revealing flaws in plea-bargaining and bail processes, this study urges reforms at the pre-trial stages to improve the system as a whole.

“Being held in jail provides defendants with a strong incentive to plead guilty. The length of pretrial detention plays a role as well. After all, it is plausible to expect that the longer a defendant is held in custody, the stronger the incentive he or she has to plead guilty in order simply to be released—particularly in cases involving misdemeanors, where the actual sentence may not exceed time spent in pretrial detention[.]” p. 266