Those who are detained or have their supervision revokedbefore trial are more likely to go to prison, and for longerperiods

Those who encounter the court system are guaranteed equal treatment under the Constitution, but is this always the case? Does being detained before trial affect a person’s likelihood of going to prison? In new research that examines the cases of more than 90,000 federal defendants, James C. Oleson and his colleagues find that those released before trial were far less likely to be sent to prison if convicted, and if they were, for far shorter periods than those who were not released or who had their pretrial supervision revoked. He argues that this sort of sentencing disparity should be of interest to federal prosecutors and judges alike.