Shawn Bushway

RAND Corporation Website

Shawn Bushway is Senior Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation, and Professor of Public Administration and Policy at the University at Albany. He holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis and Political Economy from Carnegie Mellon 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

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

Vote Confidence
Agree 8
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Agree 7
Comments

The answer depends in part on how aggressively cash bail is currently being used, and the exact structure of the new system replacing cash bail.

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

Vote Confidence
Strongly Disagree 9
Median Survey Vote Median Survey Confidence
Neutral/No Opinion 5
Comments

1) Research shows quite clearly that risk assessment alone doesn't change anything if magistrates still retain ultimate discretion. 2)The risk assessment tool only rank orders risk. Policy makers must still decide where to put the cutoffs for detention.