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“We did research before the law went into effect and found out
that most of the people that were eligible for detention were
being released pre-trial,” Olson told The Center Square. “Before
the law, they were posting money to be released and after the
law, they’re not being required to. The overall number of people
locked up hasn't changed that much, and if the number of people
locked up hasn't changed that much we wouldn't expect crime to
really change that much.”
Since the bill officially became law of the land, authorities
report both violent and property crimes across the state are
down. In further arguing that the law has had its intended
effect, Olson points out that detention court hearings are now
noticeably longer with judges making use of the added time by
more thoroughly explaining the decisions that are leading to
less jail time.
“It's a much more deliberative process,” he added. “They're
covering a lot more information and evidence about the case. I
think any time you're going to take away somebody's freedom you
want to make that decision very deliberately.”
Olson said he’s even convinced many of the laws biggest critics
would now have to admit it’s come nowhere near being the
scrounge they predicted it would be.
“I think that some people thought that it was going to be
extremely difficult to detain people that were a threat to
public safety,” he said. “The research that we found is that the
people that are being detained are the ones that are charged
with more serious crimes. Prosecutors are seeking detention in
the cases that they think it's appropriate and in most instances
the judge is granting detention.”
Over the last 12 months and of the nearly 9,000
detention-eligible cases across the state that were studied,
researchers found 36% of defendants were detained and in more
than two out of every five of those cases (43%) prosecutors
never sought such action.
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