Pretrial Detention

Pretrial Dention When a crime is allegedly committed an individual can be taken into custody, after the arraignment which is the formal reading of a criminal complaint in the presence of the defandant to inform the defendant of the charges against him or her. In response to arraignment, the accused criminal is then excepted to enter a plea. Then the accused may not be able to post bail/bond or even be denied realase. This indvidual must stay in jail until his court hearing, the time the person waits in jail is called pretrial detention. Today throughout the world pretrial detention has caused many issues in which this paper will look further into. Some of the issues that will be explored in this paper are how pretrial detention is causing overcrowded prisons, and how that is affecting our society. Another issue that will be looked upon is the expression “innocent until proven guilty”. There are times when a offender waits in jail until his hearing for a number of years and ends up being proved innocent. What should be done for the time lost in this person’s life for waiting in a jail cell for a crime that was never committed? These are issues that concern everyone in our society; this paper will explain possible ways to bring justice to these individuals. Pretrial detention causes all types of issues from the positive and negative effects it takes on people, overcrowded prisons, and weather or not it violates certain amendments. The reason for pretrial detention is the fear that serious criminals may re-offended while in the community. More than 20% of people arrested for murder and released on bail are arrested for new charges this is known as avertable residuals. This could have been prevented if the criminal had been behind bars. About 1/3 of released defendants are either re-arrested for a new offense, failure to appear in court or commit some other violation. Pretrial detention requires that certain dangerous defendants be confined before trial

References: Penal Reform International: Pretrial Detention [On-line] (Retrieved November 5, 2009). Available: http://www.penalreform.org/pre-trial-detention.html Grits for Breakfast: Needless Pretrial Detention Main Cause of Harris Jail Overcrowding [On-line] (Retrieved November 5, 2009). Available: http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2009/08/needless-pretrial-detention-main-cause.html U.S Constitution: Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10) [On-line] (Retrieved November 5, 2009). Available: http://www.maitreg.com/politics/documents/billofrights.asp Klein, J.D. (1997). The Pretrial Detention “Crisis”: The causes and the cure. Journal of Urban and Contemporary Law, 52, 280-305. Eason, J.M. (1988). Eighth Amendment Pretrial Detention: What will become of the innocent? Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 78 (4), 1048-1049. Ebbesen, B.E. & Konecni, J.V. (1975). Decision Making and Information Integration in the Courts: The setting of bail. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32 (5), 805-821.