Jamein Cunningham

Cornell University Website

Jamein Cunningham is Assistant Professor of Policy Analysis and Management and Economics at Cornell University. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Michigan.

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 1
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Disagree 7
Comments

This is tough. There is a cost/benefit analysis that I'm just not sure about. On one part, the alleged marginal offender faces huge cost from pretrial detention. This cost is borne before any guilt or innocence is established. And it is possible that the cost incentivizes future criminal activity. However, without any changes in the alleged offender circumstances, it is not clear that we should expect (on net) crime to decrease in the medium-to-long-run.

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

Vote Confidence
Agree 9
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Agree 7
Comments

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

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

My concern is related to how these risk assessment may incorporate preexisting biases and further exacerbate racial disparities in the criminal justice systems. In my opinion, risk assessments should be part of a multifaceted approach to reduce the number of people detained pretrial.