Earlier this year, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and Pretrial Justice Institute published the document, State of the Science of Pretrial Risk Assessment. That document focused on what the field knows about our ability to predict the likelihood of failure to appear in court or rearrest on new charges among pretrial defendant populations. It described the great strides that the field has made in assessing risks of pretrial misconduct, as well as the challenges that researchers face in validating pretrial risk assessment instruments, and guidance on how they can face those challenges.
This document, State of the Science of Pretrial Release Recommendations and Supervision, has a different focus. It picks up where the first document left off. The document was also funded by BJA and asks the next question: now that we know so much more about predicting risks of pretrial misconduct, how can we use that information to better assure that defendants are appropriately matched to conditions of pretrial release that are designed to minimize their identified risks?
