By Amber Widgery
Recent pretrial legislative actions have focused on risk-based decision making to enhance public safety and reduce unnecessary detention.
In cases involving domes
tic violence and other violent acts, state legislation has included policies designed to enhance protections for potentially vulnerable victims during the pretrial stage of a criminal case. Four major trends have emerged from these new policies.
First, states have worked to implement pretrial risk assessments. Risk assessments can reduce unnecessary detention of low-risk defendants while enhancing victim and community safety. These assessments can help identify defendants who pose too great a threat to their victims or the community to be released before trial or they can help courts identify defendants who require special supervision conditions upon release.
Second, states have worked to provide courts with legislative guidance related to victims of crime. For example, several states have required that courts specifically consider the safety of victims prior to releasing a defendant after arrest.
Third, states have authorized courts to use additional supervision tools to monitor defendants who are determined to be eligible for release. Some of these tools include GPS monitoring, counseling, and substance use testing.
Finally, states have also authorized courts to detain defendants for some period of time if it is determined that the defendant poses too great of a risk to public safety and their victims.
Watch our new video to learn more about these trends.
Amber Widgery specializes in pretrial, sentencing and corrections policies for NCSL.
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