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Pretrial Release and Detention Statistics

Summary findings | BJS publications | Related sites

Summary findings

Of the defendants who had State felony charges filed against them in the Nation's 75 most populous counties during May 2000 --

• An estimated 62% were released by the court prior to the disposition of their case. Thirty-eight percent were detained until case disposition, including 7% who were denied bail.
  
  
• Released defendants were most likely to be released on commercial surety bond (37%) or their own recognizance (26%).
  
  
• Murder defendants (13%) were the least likely to be released prior to case disposition, followed by defendants whose most serious arrest charge was robbery (44%), motor vehicle theft (46%), burglary (49%), or rape (56%).
  
  
• Less than half of defendants with an active criminal justice status, such as parole (23%) or probation (41%), at the time of arrest were released, compared to 70% of these with no active status.
  
  
• About a third of released defendants were either rearrested for a new offense, failed to appear in court as scheduled, or committed some other violation that resulted in the revocation of their pretrial release.
  
  
• Of the 22% of released defendants who had a bench warrant issued for their arrest because they did not appear in court as scheduled, about a fourth, representing 6% of all released defendants, were still fugitives after 1 year.
  
  
• An estimated 16% of all released defendants were rearrested while awaiting disposition of their case. About three-fifths of these new arrests were for a felony.

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BJS publications

This list is in order of the most recent publication first. Additional titles are listed on other topical pages and a comprehensive list is contained on the BJS publications page. To see a full abstract of a publication with links to electronic versions of the publication, click on the title below.

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2000, 12/03. Presents a complete description of the processing of felony defendants based on data collected from a representative sample of felony cases filed in the Nation's 75 largest counties during May 2000. NCJ 202021

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998, 11/01. NCJ 187232
Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1996, 10/99. NCJ 176981
Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1994, 1/98. NCJ 164616
Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1992, 7/95. NCJ 148826

Defense Counsel in Criminal Cases, 11/00. Examines issues of legal representation for defendants in Federal district court and large local jurisdictions, and inmates in local jails and Federal and State prison. NCJ 179023

Federal Pretrial Release and Detention, 1996, 2/99. Describes pretrial release and detention practices in the Federal criminal justice system. NCJ 168635

Pretrial Release of Felony Defendants, 1992: National Pretrial Reporting Program, 11/94. Presents data on the pretrial release phase of the criminal justice process using data collected from a representative sample of felony cases filed in the 75 largest U.S. counties in May 1992. NCJ 148818

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Related sites

From BJS

• Federal Justice Statistics

Other relevant sites

• 
• Pretrial Services Resource Center

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Page last revised on December 10, 2003