Data on pretrial incarceration tells us that, at any given moment, thousands of people are sitting in jail waiting for their day in court. They are being punished before their cases have been decided. Some defendants will plead guilty just to speed up the release process. Some will be found guilty and ordered to serve time. Others will have their cases dismissed or be acquitted. Regardless of the outcome, the data make the case for greater scrutiny of practices that detain defendants pretrial.