The Schlaretzki Lecture --- Kimberly Kessler Ferzan
The Schlaretzki Lecture --- Kimberly Kessler Ferzan
Kimberly Kessler Ferzan
Earle Hepburn Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy
Co-Director, Institute for Law and Philosophy
University of Pennsylvania
Title: The Trouble with Time Served
Abstract: Every jurisdiction in the United States gives criminal defendants “credit” against their sentence for the time they spend detained pretrial. In a world of mass incarceration and overcriminalization that disproportionately impacts people of color, this practice appears to be a welcome mechanism for mercy and justice. In fact, however, crediting detainees for time served is perverse. After analyzing pretrial detention and credit for time served through the prism of rights, I argue that crediting time served is a destructive practice on egalitarian, economic, expressive, and retributive grounds. Time served should be abandoned, and detainees should be compensated instead.