Pretrial Services Research Articles

The 1984 Bail Reform Act: Organizational and Mandated Factors in the Decision to Detain

The 1984 Bail Reform Act, recognizing danger as well as flight as a reason for detention before trial and providing for explicit detention, offers an opportunity to evaluate the effects of more precise guidelines on the release/detention decision and to determine the relative importance of legal variables, community lies and other social background variables to that decision. In this study, that evaluation takes place in a jurisdiction with a new pretrial services agency. Release on own Recognizance (ROR) rates increased significantly, in conjunction with an even greater increase in the use of conditional release. Recommendations of the U.S. Attorney and the Pre-trial Services Agency (PSA) regarding release and detention were less predictable than judicial decisions. For the magistrates, the application of guidelines for detention led to clearer distinctions among the oilier three options. In separating detention from secured bail, the guidelines led to more similar recommendations from the government and PSA. Offense dominated the recommendations of both agencies before and after the BRA, which, in turn, determined judicial decisions. Community ties declined in importance as the concurrently introduced sentencing guidelines combined with the BRA's criteria for detention to institutionalize offense, sentence and prior record as the definition of danger to the community.

DEALING EFFECTIVELY WITH CROWDED JAILS: THE JUDGES' ROLE

That there is a jail crowding problem is well documented. The problem of jail crowding must b e acknowledged as one demanding the involvement of all key criminal justice actors. Judges have been identified as key decisionmakers playing a pivotal role in managing case flow and influencing jail population levels. What, then, is or should be the role of judges in dealing specifically with jail crowding? Conventional responses to this question have focused on either the role of the federal judge, who in the course of presiding over a case involving jail conditions is called upon to manage a facility, or the role of a trial judge in making sentencing decisions. Recent research efforts have recognized that a nexus exists between judicial and correctional systems that extends beyond overseeing and sentencing roles. This paper intends to expand the notion o f interdependence to encompass the entire criminal justice system with emphasis on the judge's contribution.Judges' decisions concerning the issuance of summonses, setting and reviewing bail, continuances and sentencing bear directly on the number of offenders in jail and/or length of the ir confinement. In numerous jurisdictions, judges have been instrumental in instituting changes aimed at dealing with the jail crowding problem and resulting in improvements in case processing.Judicial system‐wide leadership has resulted in the establishment of guidelines for pretrial services personnel to be used in releasing certain defendants pretrial and in making pretrial release recommendations for others in one jurisdiction and the institution of a policy prohibiting the detention of misdemeanor defendants—a major factor in reducing the jail population–in many other jurisdictions. Increased use of nonfinancial pretrial release options by judicial officers was a key element in achieving a substantial drop in the jail population in several communities. Judges have introduced delay reduction strategies which have served to expedite case processing as well as minimize the number of detainees in jail. Judges have also successfully implemented a full range of sentencing atternatives, including community service, restitution and treatment programs for persons convicted of alcohol or drug‐related offenses.This paper provides information on specific policies and procedures which have had a demonstrated impact on jail population levels without detracting from the operations of courts and, in most instances, contributing to improvements in judicial administration.

Limiting Preventive Detention Through Conditional Release: The Unfulfilled Promise of the 1982 Pretrial Services Act

Limiting Preventive Detention Through Conditional Release: The Unfulfilled Promise of the 1982 Pretrial Services Act

An Evaluation of Federal Pretrial Services Agencies' Impact On Pretrial Decisions and Outcomes

In 1966 Congress created demonstration pretrial services agencies in ten federal district courts to aid judges in complying with the Bail Reform Act of 1966. This article used secondary analysis of data collected as part of the demonstration project to determine its impact on pretrial release decisions and defendant conduct. The results suggest that the agencies did create changes in the type of release conditions through changes in judicial decision making. Furthermore, these changes did not create significant increases in the rates of pretrial misconduct as feared by some. The final discussion focuses on the relationship between the agencies and the earlier Bail Reform Act of 1966.

The making of an inmate: Prison as a way of life : by Ann Cordilia. Schenkman Publishing Company (3 Mt. Auburn Place, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138), 1983, 133 pp., hardcover—$15.25, softcover—$8.95.

Framed in the situational criminological perspective, this case study examines the effect of the Columbine High School Massacre on a pretrial services unit. The massacre decreased intakes into the jail, increased the proportion of persons detained for violent crimes, and made bond commissioners less willing to facilitate the release of persons arrested for violent crimes. Pretrial release rates for domestic and other violence-related cases were not affected. Implications for situational criminological theory and criminal justice system policy are discussed.

Probation and parole: Theory and practice : by Howard Abadinsky. Prentice-Hall, Inc. (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632), 1977, 431 pp., clothbound—$14.95.

Chapter 1 Probation and Parole in Criminal Justice Chapter 2 Probation History and Administration Chapter 3 Pretrial Services, Sentencing, and the Presentence Report Chapter 4 Parole and the Indeterminate Sentence Chapter 5 Parole Administration and Services Chapter 6 Treatment Theory and Practice Chapter 7 Probation and Parole Officers Chapter 8 Probation and Parole Supervision Chapter 9 Intermediate Punishments Chapter 10 Special Issues and Programs in Probation and Parole Chapter 11 Probation and Parole in Juvenile Justice Chapter 12 Research and the Future of Probation and Parole Glossary References Author Index Subject Index

Confidentiality of Pretrial Services Information under the Speedy Trial Act

Confidentiality of Pretrial Services Information under the Speedy Trial Act