Thurston County, Washington

Values

• Collaboration: Commitment to actively partner in order to achieve the mission and vision.
• Accountability: Responsibility and commitment to complete the work at hand to achieve a successful outcome.
• Equity: Stakeholders are dedicated to equitably achieving a common goal, which demands compromise amongst competing perspectives.
• Fair: Equal-handed—free from bias, prejudice, favoritism, and self-interest.
• Safety: The responsibility to protect members of the community from harm inflicted through criminal behavior.

A Foundation for Change

Thurston County established an advisory committee with diverse perspectives, experiences, and expertise. The committee includes judges along with representatives from the prosecutor’s and public defender’s offices, pretrial services, and law enforcement. The original members have remained active since the committee’s kickoff in 2019.

Validating and Implementing the PSA

Thurston County worked closely with RTI International, APPR’s national research partner. RTI conducted historical validation and bias testing and found that the PSA had good predictive validity and showed no significant difference in performance across race and sex. The validation also found that most people in Thurston County are highly likely to appear in court and to refrain from a new criminal arrest while on pretrial release.

Thurston County conducted a soft launch of the PSA in September 2023 and successfully implemented the tool in October 2023.

Reducing Reliance on Financial Conditions

Using data collected from January 2023 onward, the policy team will compare pretrial release decisions before and after PSA implementation, analyzing differences in attorney recommendations and judicial decisions on financial release conditions (i.e., money bond). The team will use these ongoing analyses to identify possible steps to reduce the county’s reliance on financial release conditions.

Meaningful Preliminary Hearings

Thurston County’s detailed mapping of its pretrial system led the policy team to recognize the need to enhance communication and information sharing among decision makers at and before the preliminary hearing. Previously, public defenders did not meet clients in advance of the hearing. Thurston County has since ensured that defense attorneys can meet clients in jail before the preliminary hearing, and that both parties are present at the hearing. The county is also working to dedicate prosecuting attorneys to preliminary hearings once staffing shortages are addressed, and to ensure that all people receive a paper copy of their release conditions after their hearing.

Building Data Sustainability

Thurston County has made significant progress toward data management and reporting. RTI transferred the county jail data dashboard it created to Thurston’s IT department, and system stakeholders identified pretrial performance measures to analyze as they work to evaluate pretrial system outcomes. One obstacle to robust evaluation of pretrial outcomes remains, however. The pretrial case management software, purchased from an outside vendor, does not allow data to be extracted. Members of the advisory committee are working to find a solution to this barrier.

Advisory Committee

• City of Lacey Police Department
• City of Olympia Police Department
• City of Tumwater Police Department
• Olympic Health and Recovery Services
• Thurston County Board of County Commissioners (County Manager)
• Thurston County Corrections Bureau
• Thurston County District Court
• Thurston County Pretrial Services
• Thurston County Prosecutor’s Office
• Thurston County Public Defense
• Thurston County Public Information Office
• Thurston County Sheriff’s Office
• Thurston County Superior Court