Judicial Professional Background and Pretrial Detention Outcomes

Abstract We analyze nearly 70,000 New York City criminal court arraignments to examine how judges’ professional backgrounds influence pretrial detention. We classify judges as having experience in law enforcement, legal services, both, or neither. Judges with law enforcement backgrounds are, on average, 3.9 percentage points more likely than others to order detention and impose cash bail. When bail is imposed, they set amounts about 32% higher. No significant differences emerge for legal services backgrounds. Because law enforcement experience is common among judges, our findings have broad implications for pretrial detention nationwide.