By Fola Akinnibi, Photo: Erik McGregor/Light Rocket/Getty Images, Bloomberg CityLab, March 24, 2022
As New York state and city officials weigh tightening restrictions on arrested individuals awaiting trial, a new study shows that doing so could be worse for public safety in the long run.
Individuals held in jail pretrial are more likely to be rearrested than people who are released, and the odds they’ll commit a new offense increase the longer they are incarcerated, according to a study commissioned by Arnold Ventures, a philanthropic organization founded by billionaires Laura and John Arnold. The study tracked nearly 1.5 million people who were booked into a jail in Kentucky over roughly a decade, making it one of the largest of its kind and building on more than 100 studies that have come to similar findings.
“There is still a widespread belief among many people in the system that somehow detaining people pretrial is good for community safety,” said Ezekiel Edwards, a vice president at Arnold Ventures. But the study found that spending more than 23 hours in jail ahead of a court appearance actually had a negative effect. Detention “makes it harder to maintain basic needs. You’re taken away from your family, you’re more at risk of losing employment and housing.”
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