“Although the existing evidence shows that the federal bail system is in crisis, it does not show why or how that crisis is occurring.”
“This Report reveals a fractured and freewheeling federal pretrial detention system that has strayed far from the norm of pretrial liberty."
FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Finding & Recommendation 1:
“Our primary explanation for the legal violations documented in this Report is the phenomenon we have labeled the culture of detention. . . . Even when the [statute] contains clear instructions, judges and prosecutors frequently ignore those instructions in favor of longstanding district practices, substituting courtroom habits for the plain text of the statute and overincarcerating people in the process. . . . [O]ne judge we interviewed justified those deviations by saying: " Oh, that’s just the way we do it. "
“Our most troubling finding was that, in 12% of Initial Appearances where the prosecutor was seeking detention, judges detained people illegally. . . . Such unlawful detentions are the inevitable consequence of the Initial Appearance feedback loop we identify.”
“Moreover, these unlawful detentions were carried out in a racially disparate way. . . . The unlawful detentions we observed are just the tip of the iceberg. . . . This is not just an isolated situation in which a few judges or attorneys slightly misunderstand the law; rather, there is a pervasive, systemic deprivation of liberty that is not authorized by statute or case law.”
Finding & Recommendation 2:
“During our courtwatching, we observed judges violating federal law by holding uncounseled Initial Appearances where indigent individuals appeared pro se across from federal prosecutors, and by jailing indigent individuals without first appointing them a lawyer.”
“In our study, every arrestee who was deprived of a lawyer at the Initial Appearance was jailed, and nearly all were Black or Latino.”
Finding & Recommendation 3:
“[W]hen we observed judges and prosecutors making serious legal mistakes regarding the presumption, the arrestee was always a person of color."
Finding & Recommendation 4:
“Our study found that federal courts regularly impose inequitable and burdensome financial conditions, perpetuating a system in which money buys freedom and poverty ensures incarceration."