Measuring What Matters: Essential Elements of Pretrial Data

Transcription

1 Measuring What Matters: Essential Elements of Pretrial Data Michael R. Jones Pretrial Justice Institute Chief Judge David A. Bottger 21 st Judicial District, CO December, Pretrial Justice Institute. All content herein is the sole property of Pretrial Justice Institute and all rights are reserved. Any further use, distribution or reproduction without express written consent is prohibited. Topics 1. Who supports pretrial justice improvement 2. Example of local improvement 3. Questions to ask and get answered Jail inmates Risk assessment Tool accuracy Collaborating for change 1

2 Who supports pretrial risk assessment and risk-based decision-making Justice system stakeholders & reformers The public NACo (2010) Pretrial Release: Counties should establish written policies that ensure: The interview and assessment of all arrestees booked into county jails; The investigation of information provided in order to provide a report to the judiciary for use during the pretrial release or detention decision; and The use of release methods that are in compliance with state bail statutes which call for the least restrictive conditions during the pretrial stage that can protect the community and assure the appearance of the arrestee at all court events. These include release on recognizance, non-financial supervised release, and preventive detention. 2

3 System/Reformer Support Trivia According to public polling, about what percentage of common citizens support the use of pretrial risk assessment tools instead of money bail? a. 25 b. 40 c. 55 d. 70 3

4 Public Support 80% Risk Assessment Instead of Cash Bail Bonds 60% 69% 40% 20% 0% 16% 12% 2% Support Undecided Oppose Don't Know Question: Some have proposed using risk based screening tools instead of cash bail bonds to determine whether defendants should be released from jail before trial. This risk assessment would take into account such factors as [drug use history, mental health, employment status, residency, and community ties] or [the charge in question, criminal history, any warrants or previous failures to appear for court]. Under this system, high risk defendants would be held in jail until trial and low risk defendants would be released with conditions and be monitored and supervised. Would you support or oppose this proposal to use risk assessment instead of cash bail bonds to determine whether defendants should be released from jail before trial, or are you undecided? [IF SUPPORT/OPPOSE] And do you feel that way strongly, or not so strongly? Mesa County s Pretrial Initiative Collaborative effort among stakeholders Data-guided Looked at own data (jail, pretrial services) Incorporated evidence-based practices from the literature Use empirical risk assessment tool (CPAT) Have pretrial supervision Changing people s mindset 4

5 Mesa County, Co: How has an Increase in Recog Rates Affected Public Safety? 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 80% 82% 79% 78% 83% 59% 59% 47% 33% 30% Safety Rates PR Rates PR = Personal Recognizance Or Release d on Own Recognizance PR Rates through March 2015 Safety Rates through January 2015 *Safety Rate is Supervised Group Only; The unsupervised group cannot currently be tracked. Questions to Ask and Get Answered 1 Who is in jail pretrial, and why? 1. How many low and medium risk pretrial inmates are in the jail? 2. Why are they there? 3. What would be needed to get them out? 5

6 Sample dashboard Monthly Outcome August 2014 Appearance Rate 18.0% Successful Cases 82.0% FTA Cases 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Historical Outcome Annual Appearance Rate 13.0% 11.2% 12.5% 13.6% 17.1% 14.4% 14.3% 11.2% 13.3% 12.3% 19.7% 16.0% 18.0% 87.0% 88.8% 87.5% 86.4% 82.9% 85.6% 85.7% 88.8% 86.7% 87.7% 80.3% 84.0% 82.0% Successful Cases FTA Cases Appearance Rate Percentage of supervised defendants who make all scheduled court appearances Questions to Ask and Get Answered 2 How do I know whether our pretrial risk tool is empiricallydeveloped and accurate? If it is not, or if we don t have one, how do we remedy this? 6

7 CPAT (Colorado) Pretrial Risk Category Public Safety Rate Court Appearance Rate Percent of Defendants 1 (lower) 91% 95% 20% 2 80% 85% 49% 3 69% 77% 23% 4 (higher) 58% 51% 8% Average 78% 82% 100% The defendant has a CPAT risk score consistent with other Colorado defendants whose average public safety rate is ##% and whose average court appearance rate is ##%. Accuracy Test in Denver How do I know our pretrial risk tool is accurate? 7

8 PSA-Court Developed; being refined and validated Data from millions of cases; dozens of jurisdictions Three new features 1. Defendant-interview is not needed 2. Only uses administrative data 3. Has a violence flag Tested for race/gender neutrality Conviction item example Will be free Integrated with decision-making Questions to Ask and Get Answered 3 How do I engage the judges, sheriff, prosecutor, police, etc., in a discussion? 1. How can I bring the justice system experts together? 2. What should I say? 3. How do I hold them accountable? 8

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