Danger and Detention: A Second Generation of Bail Reform

Abstract

Given two decades of controversy and reform preceding the passage of the Federal Bail Reform Act of 1984 by the 98th Congress, the federal preventive detention law represents landmark legislation-if not for actually breaking new ground, at least for formally legitimizing the direction in bail, pretrial release and detention procedure in the United States innovated in the District of Columbia and a number of states during the 1970's. 2 Responding to heightened public fear of crime during the mid and late 1970's, legislatures increasingly have scrutinized bail practices during, the 1980's.The resulting variety of revisions has been motivated by the common assumption that, as best summarized by the United States Senate, there is a small but identifiable group of particularly dangerous defendants as to whom neither the imposition of stringent release conditions nor the prospect of revocation of release can reasonably assure