Unsentenced Detainees: Socioeconomic Burdens of Pre-trial Detention

Abstract

Pre-trial detainees Definition The term unsentenced detainees refers to individuals held in places of detention who are awaiting trial or decisions relating to their possible conviction or sentencing, whether at first instance or on appeal. Some definitions view the pre-trial period as beginning at the moment of arrest and ending with the first appearance before a judge, while more expansive conceptions regard the pre-trial period as starting from the moment of arrest and encompassing the trial period up until the point at which all possibility of appeal is extinguished (Domingo and Denney 2013).