Place Matters: Racial Disparities in Pretrial Detention

The authors present research indicating that districts with low detention rates seem to have greater levels of disparity. Consistent with earlier research on disparities in prison populations, this research finds that the greatest disparities by location are in the Northeastern and Midwestern districts, while those with modest disparities were predominantly in Southern districts. The authors offer thoughts about mediating the impact of “place” on pretrial detention.