Developing a National Model for Pre-Trial Risk Assessment

Abstract

Every day in America, judges have to answer a critical question again and again: What are the chances that a recently arrested defendant, if released before trial, will commit a new crime, a new violent crime, or fail to appear for court?This may be the single most important decision made in the criminal justice system because it impacts everything that follows: whether or not a defendant is sentenced to jail or prison, how long he is incarcerated, and most importantly, how likely he is to commit violence or other crimes in the future. Yet, most of these decisions are made in a subjective manner, without the benefit of data-driven, objective assessments of the risks individual defendants pose to public safety