Homelessness and pretrial detention predict unfavorable outcomes in the plea bargaining process.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The present research examined homelessness, race/ethnicity, and pretrial detention in the plea bargaining process. HYPOTHESES: We predicted that homelessness, Hispanic ethnicity, and pretrial detention would be positively associated with unfavorable plea bargaining outcomes. METHOD: We coded defendant characteristics and plea bargaining variables for a random sample (N = 500) of criminal cases from 2016 in Santa Cruz County, California. We analyzed the associations between these variables using binary logistic and ordinal regressions. RESULTS: Homeless defendants were much more likely to be held in pretrial detention (odds ratio [OR] = 5.05), less likely to post bail (OR = 0.17), more likely to accept a "credit for time served" plea offer (OR = 2.26), more likely to have cases dismissed as part of a plea bargain (OR = 5.63), and more likely to receive a longer custodial sentence (OR = 2.60) than housed defendants. Defendants who did not post bail received longer custodial sentences than those who did (OR = 3.40), and pretrial detention mediated the relationship between homelessness and longer custodial sentences. White-versus-Hispanic comparisons were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Homelessness and pretrial detention were associated with significant adverse effects on plea-bargained case outcomes. Findings regarding homeless defendants suggest that they have divergent enough experiences from other defendants to make them a distinct defendant populatio…