Interviews and Investigation

Pretrial services programs conduct initial investigations of defendants to help judicial officers make informed bail decisions. The information provided by pretrial services programs often form the basis for decisions made by the judicial officer in charge of the pretrial release/detention decision. These pretrial investigations should determine whether the defendant can be safely released under certain circumstances or whether the person should be detained without bail. Such information includes the defendant’s residence and employment status; length of time in the area; ties to the community; criminal record of appearance in court; current probation, parole or pretrial release status; mental health status; and any indications of substance abuse. The investigation comprises an interview with the defendant, an interview with references provided by the defendant to verify information and a check of criminal history and court records. 

Survey of Pretrial Programs Series:  Interviews and Investigations

PJI has recently released the fourth national survey of pretrial services programs. Previous surveys were conducted in 1979, 1989, and 2001.

Listed below are the findings relating to the interviews and investigations of pretrial services programs.

Timing of Initial Interview

The investigation must be conducted before the initial court appearance for the pretrial services program to provide information and options to the judicial officer making the pretrial release decision. The ABA standards call for the investigation of the pretrial services program to be conducted “prior to or contemporaneous with a defendant’s first appearance” (Standard 10-3.2 (a)). Yet many programs conduct investigations on defendants who were not able to obtain release at the initial appearance. 

A review of responses from earlier surveys shows a variation in the timing of the initial interview.  In the 1979 survey, 92 percent of programs reported at least attempting to conduct their interviews before the initial appearance. In 1989, 70 percent of programs reported doing so.  This increased slightly to 75 percent in 2001 and is down to 69 percent in the 2008 survey.  Almost a third of programs do not conduct the initial interview until after the first appearance in court, rendering them unable to provide information to the court for the initial bail decision.

Verification

Verification of the information obtained from the defendant during the pretrial interview is important. The NAPSA standards state that information “should be verified by the pretrial services agency prior to submission of a report and recommendation. In all instances, places where the defendant can be contacted, i.e., address and telephone number, should be verified, if only through documents found on the defendant’s person” (Commentary to Standard X.A).  Ninety-three percent of pretrial programs report that they seek to verify the information obtained from the defendant in the interview.   

Criminal Record Checks

The defendant’s criminal record is a crucial piece of information collected by pretrial services programs. Both the ABA (Standard 10-4.2 (g) (ii)) and NAPSA (Commentary to Standard X.A) recognize state the important role of pretrial services programs in obtaining the criminal record. The availability and completeness of the criminal record diminishes when pretrial programs need to look outside their own jurisdictions, particularly out of state.

The 2008 survey tried to identify common practice for obtaining complete and comprehensive record checks.  Results show that 86 percent of programs use the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database regularly to obtain defendant criminal history information, which provides records from federal, state and local criminal justice agencies.  In addition to NCIC records, pretrial programs report using state and local criminal history databases on a regular basis.  Eighty-six percent of the initial 2008 survey respondents are accessing local court information systems for additional arrest and disposition information, and 87 percent state records. 

This section contains the chapters of each set of standards related to this topic, examples submitted by programs, related publications and results from the Survey of Pretrial Programs series.