NCJ Number
166303
Journal
International Criminal Justice Review Volume: 5 Dated: (1995) Pages: 32-44
Date Published
1995
Length
13 pages
Annotation
The use of private organizations to deliver supervised pretrial release services in England and the United States has implications for the treatment of defendants between the time of arrest and trial.
Abstract
In both England and the United States, many different decision centers have authority over pretrial release. The United States has a federal legal system, while England has a unitary legal system. In pretrial release, service provision means deciding which defendants need supervision and what pretrial release conditions should be. Production means interviewing and monitoring defendants. Based on task dichotomy, four models of public and private allocation of pretrial release responsibility are possible in theory: (1) statist, public officials handle both provision and production; (2) mixed-contractual, provision is handled by a public agency and production by the private sector; (3) mixed-theoretical, provision is handled by the private sector and production by a public agency; and (4) entrepreneurial, the private sector handles at least some aspects of provision and production. Two innovative programs, one in England and one in the United States, are analyzed that include pretrial release service provision by nonprofit organizations. The analysis shows the impact of using private organizations depends on the division of responsibility between public agencies and nonprofit organizations and on policies of the particular nonprofit organization involved in a specific case. The most potentially problematic alliances occur when the private sector has responsibility for both service provision and production. Some programs that use this division of labor, however, are among the most innovative and help to maintain a system that returns as many pretrial release defendants to the community as can be accomplished without compromising safety. 37 references