Charles Loeffler

University of Pennsylvania Website

Charles Loeffler is Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard University.

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
Disagree 7
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Disagree 7
Comments

The best available evidence on this question is from studies of misdemeanor defendants. These studies suggest that crime will not increase as more affected defendants are released.

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

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

For the often affected population of misdemeanor defendants, decreases in cash bail have mostly led to increases in release without the need to make financial payments at time of release. These changes often impact individuals required to pay relatively small amounts. Since many of these individuals eventually made payment under the previous cash bail system, the overall population detained does not experience a large change in size (e.g., Philadelphia).

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

Vote Confidence
Neutral/No Opinion 8
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Neutral/No Opinion 5
Comments

The utility of risk assessment for reducing the pretrial detention population depends on how release thresholds are set and how any such tool is integrated into existing pretrial release procedures. In practice, the implementation of risk assessment often serves as an opportunity to reconsider the utilization of pretrial detention. However, the use of risk assessment itself does not guarantee any specific impact on the size of the pretrial population.