NCJ Number
225876
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 72 Issue: 3 Dated: December 2008 Pages: 2-9
Date Published
December 2008
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study examined risk assessment by constructing and validating a pretrial risk instrument.
Abstract
Results indicate that when the cut-off scores were examined, the pretrial instrument successfully differentiated between low-risk defendants, medium-risk defendants, and high-risk defendants. Using data from 342 adult offenders, 8 items were selected to comprise the pretrial instrument, including age at first arrest, history of failure to appear (FTA), recent occurrence of FTA, prior jail incarcerations, employment status, drug use, drug-related problems, and residential stability. Results found that the pretrial assessment score was found to be significantly correlated with both FTA (r=.263) and new arrest (r=.235). Additionally, this study incorporated and examined factors in the data collection process, such as criminal thinking and criminal peers, and obstacles to adhering to court requirements (medical and mental health, lack of transportation, etc.) that could impact the ability or desire of an individual to adhere to court requirements; none of the items in these domains was significant in predicting FTA or new arrest while under pretrial supervision. Data were collected from defendants who were referred to five pretrial service agencies in two States. Tables, graph, and references