The Costs and Consequences of Bail and Pretrial Detention

Описание: For the second speaker in our Myths of Public Safety: Pretrial speaker series we invited Professor Megan Stevenson, an economist from the University of Virginia School of Law, to discuss her innovative research on the costs and consequences of bail and pretrial detention. Our current system is based on the idea that the safety benefits outweigh the harm that it inflicts. But does it keep us safe? Does bail increase the likelihood that people show up in court? The results may surprise you. We discussed reforms to bail and pretrial detention that have been attempted around the country and try to learn from their successes and failures.

Megan Stevenson is an economist and criminal justice scholar. She has conducted empirical research in various areas of criminal justice reform, including bail, algorithmic risk assessment, misdemeanors and juvenile justice. Her research on bail was cited extensively in a landmark federal civil rights decision, O’Donnell v. Harris County, and has received widespread media coverage. She was the 2019 winner of the Oliver E. Williamson prize for best article, chosen among all articles published in the Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization within the previous three years. Recent publications include, Does Cash Bail Deter Misconduct?, Virtually No One Is Dangerous Enough to Justify Jail, and Pretrial Detention and the Value of Liberty. Prior to joining the law faculty at UVA, Stevenson was an assistant professor of law at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School (2017-2020) and a fellow at the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Law School (2015-17). She holds a Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Her teaching areas include criminal law, evidence-based criminal justice reform, statistics for lawyers and economics for lawyers.

This event was recorded on 9/28/22.

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