A pretrial services agency can serve a number of vital roles in the pretrial system—including providing critical information to prosecutors, defense counsel, and judicial officers to inform pretrial release decisions. That may include completing a pretrial assessment report regarding their likelihood of success while remaining in the community until case resolution, and providing decision-makers with critical information about someone’s criminal history and other information relevant to these decisions.
But, with limited staff and resources, those crucial services are out of reach for many rural towns and counties. And, with a lower volume of arrests and less frequent court hearings, employing full-time staff to process a handful of people is often not an efficient use of limited resources.
However, some courts in rural counties are getting the information needed to make informed, deliberate pretrial decisions without employing local staff or straining resources. They are using a remote centralized assessment model.
Shared Resources for Rural Counties
Centralized assessment is a model that allows pretrial investigations and assessments to be completed for multiple jurisdictions, remotely, by designated staff in a state’s court system or from a larger jurisdiction within a county. These teams often work in a single location or at workstations throughout the state, not necessarily in the jurisdictions they serve.
Models of Centralized Assessment
Jurisdictions in many states—including Kentucky, Montana, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania— have developed efficient centralized assessment models that equally serve rural and urban jurisdictions.
Kentucky
In 2017, Kentucky Pretrial Services created a new division specializing in assessment and data quality to improve accuracy and strengthen judicial confidence in the Public Safety Assessment (PSA). The division consists of four coordinators who supervise 54 specialists and ensure 24/7 coverage and pretrial assessments for the entire state.
When a person is arrested, charging documents are entered into the pretrial case management system and automatically transmitted to the assessment portal, commonly referred to as the queue. The queue auto-sorts the cases by priority, and an assessment specialist conducts a criminal history investigation and completes the PSA. The information is returned to the pretrial case management system, where it can be viewed by all staff, judicial officers, prosecutors, and the defense of record.
The centralized model has improved the quality, accuracy, and efficiency of assessments and investigations statewide. The quality assurance measures we developed early on allow us to track these measures and provide for greater accountability.
Michael Thacker, Statewide Operations Supervisor, Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts, Department of Pretrial Services
For more information, contact Michael at michaelthacker@kycourts.net
Montana
In 2017, the Montana Legislature mandated a pretrial program that used an evidence-based pretrial assessment. The state Supreme Court used a centralized assessment model to pilot the pretrial programs in five counties: Missoula, Lewis and Clark, Lake, Butte-Silver Bow, and Yellowstone. A PSA coordinator and two processors based in Helena serve the counties, and each county has a case manager.
The counties send charging documents electronically to the PSA coordinator and processors, who are employees of the Montana Office of the Court Administrator. They review the documents to determine if it is appropriate to complete a PSA. For people eligible for pretrial release, a criminal history investigation is conducted, the PSA is completed, and a PSA report is generated along with recommended release conditions.
The five pilot sites were made permanent with funding from the state legislature.
All of these counties now have access to a PSA report and recommendations for release conditions submitted electronically from the appropriate court administrator to the appropriate judge, prosecutor, and defense attorney. The efficiency of this process allows these counties to effectively and efficiently make release decisions, eliminating or lessening the likelihood of unnecessary detention.
Mike Ferriter, Pretrial Project Manager, Office of Montana’s Court Administrator
For more information, contact Mike at michael.ferriter@mt.gov
New Mexico
Bernalillo County implemented the PSA in 2017 as part of a broader effort to adopt legal, evidence-based practices. Two years later, the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) created a new unit to make these pretrial improvements accessible to more counties. Called the Background Investigations and PSA Unit (BI/PSA Unit), this centralized office is housed in Albuquerque and serves an additional six counties.
The BI/PSA Unit employs 13 staff to provide 22/7 remote service. When an arrest is made in a county served by the unit, the charging documents are sent electronically to the BI/PSA Unit from the local detention center holding the arrested person. A BI/PSA Unit staff member enters the information into the state court database, creating a new criminal case. Then they complete a comprehensive criminal history background investigation report (BIR) and score the PSA, which generates a release recommendation based on a locally developed release matrix. The BIR and PSA report are uploaded to the statewide court database accessible to the judge, prosecutor, and defense counsel.
Developing the BI/PSA Unit is the cornerstone of the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Court’s Pretrial Initiative. Centralizing the work of background investigations and PSA scoring allows counties to use public resources wisely and to improve their pretrial systems using legal, evidence-based practicies. Over the next year, New Mexico plans to expand pretrial services to up to nine more counties.
Kelly Bradford, Senior Statewide Pretrial Program Manager, New Mexico Administrative of of the Courts, Pretrial Justice Division
For more information, contact Kelly at aockkb@nmcourts.gov
Allegheny County, PA
With 35 district courts and the central court, Pretrial Services for the Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, Allegheny County, could only complete pretrial assessments for the Pittsburgh Municipal Court. That changed in 2018 when a centralized process was implemented. Today, judges in each of the 35 district courts can electronically request a pretrial assessment.
The pretrial agency upgraded its existing case management system to allow for electronic requests and transmissions; in that way, it could serve multiple courts. When an arrest is made, law enforcement transports the person to a local facility for an initial appearance, referred to as a preliminary arraignment in Allegheny County. Judicial staff collect personal information and make an electronic request for an assessment through the pretrial case management system.
Pretrial staff are alerted when there is a request for a PSA. They then perform a criminal history investigation, score the PSA, and electronically transmit a report back to the judge. The process is amazingly efficient and, on average, takes only about 20 minutes.
Colleen Sypolt, Population Control Manager, Allegheny County Pretrial Services
For more information, contact Colleen at csypolt@alleghenycourts.us
