The Failed War on Pre-Trial Detention: Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Reform

Angela Zorro Medina

2020

• event study
• american country
• latin american
• regression analysis
• criminal procedure
• SSRN

The results provide compelling evidence that the U.S. adversarial model decreased the number of inmates in pre-trial detention, male detainees

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Summary

Introduction

• During the 1990s and 2000s, 70 percent of Latin American countries transitioned from an inquisitorial criminal procedure to a U.S adversarial model in a phenomenon known as the Latin American Criminal Procedure Revolution (LACPR).
• The LACPR involved more than 19 countries, and cost around 1.51 billion dollars.

Results

• Almost two decades after its implementation, the impact of the most significant procedural reform undertaken on the continent remains largely unexplored.
• Using Colombia as a study case, I explore the LACPR effect in pre-trial detentions using two methodological strategies.
• I exploit the exogenous variation resulting from the LACPR gradual implementation to estimate a difference-in-difference and an event study model.
• I estimate the impact of the LACPR in pre-trial admission and release rates using a regression analysis controlling for co-founding variables and time-trends.
• The results provide compelling evidence that the U.S adversarial model decreased the number of inmates in pre-trial detention, male detainees.

Conclusion

• The results show that the decline is not associated with a decrease in the use of pre-trial detention but to an increase in procedural speediness.
• Zorro Medina, Angela, The Failed War on Pre-Trial Detention: Evidence from a Quasi-Experimental Reform (January 15, 2020).