One or more additional presenters will be selected from a call for papers.
An overwhelming majority of criminal cases are disposed of pretrial by a plea bargain. Many key decisions as far as whether a defendant will be found guilty, what her sentence will be, and wideranging effects on mass incarceration and conviction of the innocent are a result of important pretrial procedures. This panel focuses on the steps in the pretrial process that lead to mass incarceration and allow the conviction of innocent people. The specific pretrial steps focused on would be the pretrial decision to release or detain, right to counsel, eye witness identifications, plea bargaining, and pre-plea disclosures. The panel will discuss the effects of the pretrial detention decision and preventive detention on high incarceration rates and whether people receive custodial sentences. In regards to plea bargaining, panelists will discuss the pressure and calculus that allows innocent people to plead guilty. As far as pre-plea Brady disclosures panelists will discuss the impacts of prosecutor's obligation to turn over exculpatory evidence before plea bargain. Finally, panelists will discuss the pretrial right to counsel and its impacts on the release decision, plea bargaining and also delve into the quality and necessity of counsel in the early stages of a judicial proceeding.