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Pretrial - Risk Assessment

  • document cover for State of the Science of Pretrial Risk Assessment

    State of the Science of Pretrial Risk Assessment

    “This publication is designed for a wide-ranging audience of criminal justice stakeholders who have questions about pretrial risk assessment and its value to the pretrial justice process” (p.3). Sections of this report are: introduction; setting the stage; critical issues related to pretrial release, detention, and risk assessment; challenges to implementing evidence-based risk assessment and threats to reliable administration; methodological challenges associated with prediction of risk; where to go next-recommendations for research and practice; and conclusion.

  • document cover for Assessing Pretrial Risk without a Defendant Interview

    Assessing Pretrial Risk without a Defendant Interview

    "Although the use of pretrial risk assessments has increased in recent years, the proportion of jurisdictions employing these instruments remains low, and is estimated to be no more than 10%. This low adoption rate is due in large part to the fact that existing risk assessments require that information be collected through interviews with defendants. Conducting these interviews and verifying the information is a time-consuming and resource-intensive process that many jurisdictions cannot afford" (p. 3). There were only eight multi-jurisdictional...

  • Nevada Pretrial Risk Assessment Instrument (NPR) Documents (2016)

    Following a review of the available research regarding pretrial risk assessment instruments being used in other jurisdictions, the Committee decided that "it would be preferable to develop a customized pretrial risk instrument that incorporated all of the positive attributes of these risk instruments but had the advantage of being tested and normed on defendants being released in Nevada" (Final Report, p. 1). This collection of documents explains how the Nevada Pretrial Risk Assessment (NPR) was developed. Access is provided to: Nevada Pretrial Risk Assessment (NPR)--Draft; NPRA Validation Report and Final NPRA Tool [Development of the Nevada Pretrial Risk Assessment System...

  • Arnold Foundation - Risk Factors and Formula (2016)

    "The pretrial phase of the criminal justice process should aim to protect public safety and assure defendants’ appearance in court, while honoring individuals’ constitutional rights, including the presumption of innocence and the right to bail that is not excessive. Yet research shows that low-risk, nonviolent defendants who can’t afford to pay often spend extended time behind bars, while high-risk individuals are frequently released from jail. This system causes significant harm to too many individuals and is a threat to our communities."

  • New pre-trial release program relies on risk assessment (2016)

    ""There are people who can be safely managed in the community and the only reason they are not is they don't have any money whatsoever," says Washoe District Court Judge Elliott Sattler, who has administrative oversight responsibilities for the county's pretrial services."

  • Using Technology to Improve Pretrial Release Decision-Making (2016)

    "Properly validated evidence-based pretrial risk assessment tools are better predictors of pretrial success than money bail or professional discretion alone. Jurisdictions can implement a pretrial risk assessment tool using data collected manually from local, state and federal databases, but a pretrial risk assessment tool would ideally be automated and integrated with existing systems that house relevant data. Implementing an automated pretrial release tool is a relatively small project with the potential for significant judicial, social and fiscal benefits."

  • Milwaukee Moves Away From Money Bail System (2017)

    "Identifying defendants who are most likely to not return to court for their trials is key to reforming the bail system in Wisconsin and nationwide. Doing so will cut costs and increase public safety."

  • Pretrial risk assessment tool developed for Alaska (2018)

    This article reviews a new pretrial risk assessment tool that calculates whether a defendant is at low, moderate, or high risk for failure to appear at trial or to commit another crime if released. The tool, incorporated in Alaska’s new bail statute, aids in the judicial officer’s decision regarding pretrial bail conditions.

  • Stanford Pretrial Risk Assessment Tools Factsheet Project (2019)

    The Risk Assessment Factsheet (RAF) as a structured, consistent set of key questions regarding important aspects of the design, deployment, and evaluation of pretrial risk assessment tools that stakeholders can use to obtain meaningful information about those tools.

    The blank RAF template provides a straightforward, standardized mechanism for stakeholders to use to conduct such audits and comparisons of any pretrial risk assessment tool they choose. The completed RAFs include detailed answers on the template, carefully gathered and assembled by our team and then verified with the appropriate RAF developer.

  • Colorado Pretrial Assessment Tool Validation Study Final Report (2020)

    The Colorado Pretrial Assessment Tool (CPAT) is an empirically-based pretrial risk assessment tool developed to inform bond decisions in Colorado. The tool measures a defendant’s risk of failure to appear (FTA) or re-arrest while released pretrial. The overall goal of this study was to examine and validate the current CPAT, and based on feedback from multiple criminal justice stakeholders, construct and pilot a revised version of this tool, the CPAT-Revised (CPAT-R). The study was completed between January 2018 and June 2020 and included three phases. This report will detail the methodology and results of all three phases of this study.