Abstract
Utilizing a longitudinal research design, this study evaluates the impact of the 1984 Bail Reform Act in the Eastern Federal District of California. Contrary to other experiments with preventive detention in the U.S., it was found that this legislation is being implemented on a substantial scale. The substitution of detention orders for secured bonds in most cases suggests that preventive detention before the Bail Reform Act was achieved by less formal means. Overall detention rates have remained unchanged as has average detention length, suggesting the law has not contributed significantly to overcrowding of detention facilities. The greatest impact was felt by drug offenders for whom rates of detention have significantly increased. Discriminant analysis suggests that the judicial decision-making process has been routinized by the law. Rates of pre-trial crime and failure-to-appear rates, extremely low before the law, were unaffected by the new legislation.
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