The Presumption for Detention Statute's Relationship to Release Rates Revisited: A Replication and Extension

The authors examine the impact of the presumption for detention statute on federal pretrial release rates by replicating and extending Austin (2017), using newer data and multivariate modeling. After the Bail Reform Act of 1984, which allowed detention based on perceived risk and established presumptions for certain offenses, federal pretrial release rates declined significantly. This research explores whether the trends identified in 2016 continue through 2022 and whether multivariate analyses confirm Austin’s findings and this study’s bivariate analyses.