Guilty Until Proven Innocent: The Abuse of Pretrial Detention in America

Authors

  • Mary Dryer

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/ppr.2017.96

Abstract

Although few principles of law are as widely lauded and universally accepted as the presumption of innocence, this principle is violated daily by a practice that has become standard in our justice system, exceptional only in how unexceptional it seems. Pretrial detention—the practice of holding a defendant in custody before trial while he or she is still entitled to the presumption of innocence—is, in its current status, a clear contradiction of this principle and a staple of the American legal system.

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Published

2017-10-24

Issue

Section

Articles