NCJ Number
150765
Date Published
Unknown
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper describes the structure, personnel, and operations of the District of Columbia Pretrial Services Agency (PSA).
Abstract
The PSA interviews and provides information used to set bail for arrestees charged with criminal offenses in the District of Columbia. It was created by Congress on July 26, 1966, and its responsibilities are statutorily defined. The PSA serves both the local and Federal courts in the District of Columbia. The agency's work is performed by over 80 employees who are organized into several operational units. Those units that provide information directly to the courts are collectively known as the "court services" division. This division consists of the Pre-Release, Post-Release, Evening Division, Failure to Appear, Adult Drug Detection, Juvenile Drug Detection, and District Court units. Court services units are staffed primarily by pretrial services officers, drug-detection technicians, and laboratory staff. Other agency personnel are organized into a data-processing unit, a technical and research staff, and a clerical/support staff. They form the administrative services division of the PSA. In keeping with the mandate that staff interview and provide information on all arrestees, the agency operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Arrestees are interviewed as soon as possible after arrest. Verification efforts, which begin immediately after the interviews, focus on community ties, criminal history, and drug use. The agency uses a bifurcated risk assessment approach that focuses on the likelihood of the arrestee's appearing for court hearings and the risk to community safety should pretrial release be allowed. Recommendations that result from the application of the risk-assessment are transmitted to the court through computer-generated reports that also contain community-ties and criminal-history information. The agency's Post-Release Unit monitors pretrial compliance with all conditions of release except those that deal specifically with drug testing. A fully automated case-tracking system is linked to the Superior Court's management information system.