Law Enforcement

Law enforcement is committed to protecting the public.  When they make an arrest, they want that arrest to have a resulting impact on public safety.  When an individual is booked and almost immediately released on bond, with no assessment of their risk to the community, there is a resulting level of frustration for police and communities.  Pretrial diversion programs, such as Crisis Intervention Teams, provide police an alternative to book-n-release. 

Similarly, pretrial service agencies conducting a pretrial release investigation serve to support law enforcement’s efforts by detaining high-risk arrestees.  Pretrial service agencies are able to more safely monitor defendants in the community using supervision strategies and by ensuring that those on release are of the least risk to the community.

Prosecution

One job of a prosecutor is to work with the police to determine the facts of a crime and recommend appropriate bail that is within the law.  Often, how someone performs on pretrial release impacts their outcome in court, including the sentence imposed.   Prosecutors should demand that their systems have a pretrial services agency to ensure that they get a thorough pretrial investigation report. 

Diversion in lieu of prosecution is traditionally a function of a prosecutor.  Working with a pretrial service agency, prosecutors can identify appropriate alternatives to traditional prosecution for select offenses and offenders.

Public and Private Defenders

The job of a defender is to provide the best possible defense for his or her client, which is undeniably hampered when that individual is detained pretrial.  When a pretrial investigation is completed by a pretrial services agency staff person, it assists the defender in understanding their client.  This information also allows defenders to argue for appropriate and reasonable conditions of release at the bail setting hearing. 

“Pretrial justice programs balance the scales of justice so that the working poor have as much of an opportunity to be productive citizens as the defendant who can buy his freedom pending trail.  A defendant who is not in jail pending trial can provide critical and prompt assistance in the preparation of his defense, can continue to provide financial support to his family and maintain family ties, and is less of a financial burden to taxpayers.” 
 Carlos J. Martinez, Chief Assistant, Law Office of Public Defender, Miami, FL

The public expects government to operate rationally and efficiently.  Public safety expenditures at the local level have exceeded 60% of local tax revenue in many communities.  The cost of detaining individuals who could successfully be supervised in the community pending trial is a waste of precious local resources. As the source of the tax base, citizens should demand that their hard-earned money be spent aligned with best practices in pretrial diversion and release programming.  The public should no longer bear the enormous financial and social costs of incarcerating those who could be successfully supervised in the community.  Conversely, the public should demand that individuals who pose a significant risk to safety be identified during the pretrial stage, using a locally validated risk assessment instrument, and detained.

Crime Victims

Only recently have local systems acknowledged the rights of crime victims.  Pretrial service agencies strive to ensure the protection of victims of crime, as well as the judicial process.  The appropriate supervision of defendants awaiting trial, not available through commercial bonding (surety bail), is a significant step towards the protection of victims.

Defendants

Every citizen is entitled to a fair and impartial assessment of the minimum conditions that should be imposed to ensure their appearance in court, while remaining arrest-free on bail.  The rights of the accused to secure release pending trial must not hinge on the ability to pay.  Poverty is not a crime. 

Defendants should cooperate fully with the pretrial service agency’s investigation so that all relevant information can be available for them to make a recommendation to the judge on pretrial release.  Defendants also have the right to expect that their defense attorney explore with the prosecutor appropriate diversion alternatives, such as drug courts and mental health courts.  

Judges

Judges need information in order to make decisions.  The decision to set bail is one they must make in a few minutes or less.  With heavy caseloads, judges rely on others, such as pretrial investigators and defenders, to present facts at the pretrial bail setting hearing.  Judges should demand that pretrial services agencies exist within their court system so that the law prohibiting excessive bail can be carried out.  Surety bond, or commercial bonding, provides little in the way of information to the court.  Bondsmen make their decisions about bonding out individuals based on an assessment of that individual’s ability to pay, not on their risk to the community. 

In addition, judges should demand that pretrial diversion programs exist in their jurisdictions.  Diversion reduces case loads and enables the court to see a positive impact on defendants’ lives through judicially-mandated programs such as treatment for substance abuse and mental health conditions.

County Executives

Jail is one of the most expensive investments made by local government. Intended to protect the community from dangerous individuals and/or punish those sentenced for minor crimes, the inappropriate use of jail space frequently results in the detention of more individuals than the facility was designed or staffed to house.

This often leads to unnecessary danger to the staff as well as unsafe conditions of confinement. A common remedy has been litigation against those responsible, often resulting in the release of detainees and expensive jail expansion projects.
The population of any jail is driven by many factors, including changes in demographics of the general population that might lead to more crime and more arrests, and changes in laws that limit official discretion (i.e., mandatory minimum sentencing laws). But the number of admissions and length of stay – large issues in jail population management – can be influenced by the actions of system officials.

County executives can be informed decision makers when hosting budget hearings by county department heads.  Questions about the utilization and results of pretrial diversion and release programs should be part of the process. 

Jail Administrators

A survey of pretrial service programs showed that those that aspire to the NAPSA release standards have less crowded jails than those that did not.  Jail administrators are expected, by their communities, to manage jail space as a scare resource.  In order to do that, safe alternatives to financial bond must be in place.  With two-thirds of all jail bed space in this country occupied by those awaiting trial, pretrial release and diversion programs must be employed to safely supervise low-risk defendants more cost-effectively in the community.

Court Administrators

As with every other criminal justice actor, court administrators share the responsibility for conditions of local jails.  As a result, court administrators must nurture the development of alternatives to traditional prosecution and effective pretrial release programs.  To ensure efficient case processing, pretrial programs must provide notice of appearance to every releasee and be able to locate defendants when required. 

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