State of the Science of Pretrial Risk Assessment

Abstract

Procedural fairness is the cornerstone of a criminal justice system that supports the guarantees of our legal system—innocent until proven guilty. Since the first bail reform experiment in the 1960’s, juris - dictions have struggled to identify how to accurately predict who is likely to appear in court and re - main law-abiding if released pending trial. Good public safety practice and sound fiscal management of local resources, like jails and courts, suggests the need for a renewed approach to decision making at pretrial.