Judicial Guidelines for Pretrial Release: Research and Policy Developments in the United States

Abstract

Abstract: Despite the many differences in the criminal justice systems of Britain and the United States, both countries face common problems in the field of pretrial decision‐making. The bail decision is a difficult, possibly high‐risk, decision that occurs in a very short period of time with little reliable information. Bail information schemes recently tested in Britain suggest that policy‐makers recognise the need to classify cases on something other than mere intuition. Recent bail reform in the United States has been built on this premise and has progressed to the point of developing empirically derived, voluntary judicial guidelines for pretrial release. This work has implications for pretrial decision‐making in general and the bail information schemes in particular. Accordingly, this paper presents the major findings of more than a decade's work on the development, implementation and evaluation of bail guidelines. In particular, it emphasises the value of a guidelines approach to pretrial decision‐making and serves to dispel the popular notion that guidelines are simply an informational tool founded on the belief that ‘more is better’.