Benjamin Hansen

University of Oregon Website

Benjamin Hansen is the W.E. Miner Professor of Economics at the University of Oregon. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Voting History

Pretrial detention

Reducing the number of people detained pretrial will lead to a net increase in crime in the medium- to long-term.

Vote Confidence
Neutral/No Opinion 5
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Disagree 7
Comments

There are several pathways to consider. Of course it's worth noting pre-trial detention is justified legally on the likelihood someone will appear for trial, not on their future disposition to be commit crime (at this point they are presumed innocent). That said, if fewer people are detained, likely fewer of them will be convicted which may reduce their recidivism (there's some evidence on this). However there are also incapacitation effects and spillovers onto peers/siblings/kids.

Ending the use of cash bail will meaningfully reduce the number of people detained pretrial.

Vote Confidence
Agree 7
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Agree 7
Comments

Many people detained ahead of trial lack the resources to pay bail. Moving away from cash bail and instead to a different risk based system could reduce how many are detained. At the same time, it just change who is detained.

Using risk assessment to inform detention decisions will meaningfully reduce the number of people detained pretrial.

Vote Confidence
Neutral/No Opinion 5
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Neutral/No Opinion 5
Comments

It's not clear how courts, judges or states are willing to risk assessments. Is this just a piece of information that can use? Or does this actually replace judges? Moreover, the judicial system actually could just change it's variability, where instead of judges making decisions, algorithms could simply decide to keep the riskiest people detained, subject to bed availability. This would ensure the pretrial jails are always full and by so doing increase pretrial detention.