TWO FACES OF BAIL REFORM: AN ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF PRETRIAL STATUS ON DISPOSITION PRETRIAL FLIGHT AND CRIME IN HOUSTON |
| |
| Authors: | Gerald R Wheeler Carol L Wheeler |
| |
| Institution: | GERALD R. WHEELER, director of Harris County Pretrial Services Agency received his Ph.D. in social service administration at the University of Chicago. He is the author of the book, Counter Deterrence, and other criminal justice policy analysis and administration articles, the most recent being: "Federal Court Intervention in Pretrial Release: The Case for Nontraditional Administration," Federal Probation (In Press).;CAROL WHEELER is assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Consumer Sciences, University of Houston. She received her Ph.D. in home economics education at the Ohio State University. Her articles on policy analysis in the areas of vocational education, determinate sentencing and effects of legal representation have appeared in Federal Prohation, Crime and Delinquency, and Crime and/et Justice. |
| |
| Abstract: | Bail reform is under attack by public officials historically identified with the cause of social justice. Release on personal recognizance is increasingly assailed as significantly contributing to the problem of pretrial flight and crime. Are these observations valid or have such reforms represented a step toward equal justice-without seriously threatening public safety? To test the argument against bail reform, the authors analyzed the outcome of randomly selected felony cases in Houston, Texas. All defendants were monitored by a computerized information system for athirty month period. The results of the major hypotheses were mixed. Pretrial status was found to have no significant effect on conviction outcome. However, as expected, a significantly higher proportion of convicted detained defendants were sentenced to prison than their bonded counterparts. While failure to appear rate was found relatively high for both defendants released on recognizance and money bail, the actual fugitive rate (2%) and pretrial crime rate (7%) for total bonded defendants were low. Finally the results indicated that bail reform, as experienced in this major southwestern jurisdication, has not significantly affected pretrial flight or crime. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
