The past two decades have enhanced our understanding of pretrial risk. We now know that most individuals with pending criminal cases make scheduled court appearances and remain arrest-free as they await trial. When missed court dates occur, they often are not intentional absconding but rather the result of unintentional or unavoidable circumstances. Further, most new cases filed against pretrial defendants involve misdemeanors and lower-level felony charges, not violent crimes.
However, while we recognize the infrequent and dynamic nature of pretrial misconduct, most justice systems define and measure missed court appearances using the dated and overly broad “failure to appear” descriptor. They view new case filings mostly as serious offenses affecting public safety. The result is an overestimation of defendant risk and overly punitive responses to misconduct.
Court Nonappearance and New Case Filings: Redefining Pretrial Misconduct
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Focus areas of this 90-minute interactive webinar include:
• Overview of the concepts of court nonappearance and new case filings as alternatives to failure to appear and re-arrest as pretrial outcomes.
• Highlighting the nature of pretrial risk, missed court dates, and new case filings.
• Showcasing examples of responses to court nonappearance that do not result in bench warrants or incarceration
Incorporating Services and Support into Pretrial Supervision: Is There a Best Model?
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Focus areas of this 90-minute interactive webinar include:
- Introducing NIC’s newest pretrial publication Incorporating Services and Support into Pretrial Supervision: IS there a Best Model?;
- Highlighting best and promising practices to address behavioral health and social services needs while promoting pretrial success; and
- Sharing practical examples from several jurisdictions of how to replicate treatment integration to improve pretrial outcomes.