NCJ Number
225199
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 72 Issue: 2 Dated: September 2008 Pages: 87-90
Date Published
September 2008
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article identifies the goals and practices of pretrial services for Federal courts that are relevant to the push for the use of evidence-based practices under the criteria of the Federal grant program entitled Research to Results (R2R).
Abstract
The objective of pretrial services that can benefit from evidence-based practices (practices that have been submitted to valid and reliable scientific research that has proven their worth) is the increase in pretrial release rates while maintaining defendant court-appearance and crime-prevention rates. Although a substantial percentage of the pretrial-services population probably should not be released into the community, there is a group that could and should be released with confidence that they will appear in court and will not commit a crime. Pretrial services agencies should use evidence-based practices in order to identify these individuals and provide the services necessary to ensure they will appear in court and not commit crimes while under pretrial release. This means developing the tools necessary to assess and identify the security risk and needs of individuals that are related to the pretrial-release decision. Programs for those who receive pretrial release should be evidence-based in terms of their appropriateness and effectiveness for defendants on pretrial release. Using a research focus to improve treatments and programs provides judicial officers with recommendations for release, backed by a proven supervision program that provides reasonable assurance that the client will appear in court and not commit crime while under pretrial release. 1 figure