Judicial Decision Guidelines for Bail: The Philadelphia Experiment, 1981-1982

The purpose of this study was to test the utility of draft guidelines in informing judicial decisions about bail. A sample of judges, based upon a stratified quota sampling design, was selected from the Philadephia Municipal Court to rule on sample cases. Eight judges were randomly selected to use guidelines and be "experimental judges," and eight others were randomly selected to be nonguideline or "control judges." Data for the sample cases were taken from defendants' files. Variables provided in this collection include number of suspects involved, number of different offenses charged, most serious injury experienced by the victim(s), preliminary arraignment disposition, amount of bail, socioeconomic status and demographics of the defendant, prior criminal history of the defendant, and reason for granting or denying bail.

本研究的目的是检验草案指南在为司法判决提供保释决定方面的实用性。通过对费城市政法院的法官进行分层配额抽样设计，选取了一组法官以审理样本案件。随机选取了八位法官使用指南并成为‘实验法官’，另外八位法官则被随机选取作为‘非指南或对照法官’。样本案件的数据来源于被告档案。本数据集中提供的变量包括涉案嫌疑人数量、被指控的不同犯罪数量、受害者所遭受的最严重伤害、初步审前判决处理、保释金额、被告的社会经济状况和人口统计学特征、被告的前科犯罪历史以及批准或拒绝保释的理由。