Pretrial Release Advocacy

Despite assurances that “[i]n our society liberty is the norm, and detention prior to trial . . . the carefully limited exception,” over 75% of those detained in local jails have not been convicted of a crime.  Two-thirds of state pretrial populations are held for non-violent offenses, and the racial disparities which plague the criminal legal system are especially pronounced in pretrial decisions.  With pretrial decisions having substantial, long-term case impacts, the uses and abuses of pretrial detention erode the presumption of innocence and destroy any sense of justice.