New Report Regarding Effect on Bail on Low Income People

When a person is arrested, usually a bail is set at an initial appearance or arraignment. What happens if the person cannot afford the bail? He or she remains incarcerated for weeks, months, even years while the case is prepared. The Human Rights Watch recently issued a report that includes some interesting statistics and information that can be of use when challenging pretrial detention:

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the US Department of Justice, 62 percent of the nation's jail population consists of unconvicted detainees, and in the nation's 75 largest counties, 37 percent of felony defendants are held on bail until case disposition.[48] The Pretrial Justice Institute estimates it costs $9 billion annually to incarcerate defendants held on bail.