Speedy Trial Reforms Should be Sought in Order to Reduce PreDisposition Incarceration

The criminal justice process increasing the speed of resolution is the only fair and most simple way to reduce unnecessary detention in jail pending trial. Every percentage decrease in the time of a felony matter to conclude will represent a similar percentage decrease in pre-disposition incarceration or other liberty restricting conditions of release. Applying government or private resources toward increasing spending to increase pre-conviction monitoring or supervision is therefore wasteful because it creates a governmental incentive to keep the status quo and not reduce the time or intensity of supervision. Instead the period from arrest to disposition should be so short that pre-conviction probation is not an economically viable alternative. That would be a good thing.