NCSL Pretrial Quarterly Newsletter
October 2017
The Pretrial Quarterly is an NCSL electronic newsletter for state legislators, legislative staff and others interested in pretrial release policy. This newsletter provides quarterly updates on state interests, actions and resources and provides links to the latest research.
Contents
Pretrial Quarterly
From the States
- NCSL released a new interactive 50-state resource on pretrial diversion alternatives, including diversion programs and specialty courts. Explore state law here.
- NCSL’s Legislative Summit session on front end justice and pretrial reforms was covered by the Boston Globe in an article featuring the remarks of California Senator Robert Hertzberg and the MacArthur Foundation’s Laurie Garduque. Resources and materials from the session can be found here.
- California’s Pretrial Detention Reform Workgroup established by the Chief Justice recently issued their recommendations.
The Cache
In the News
- The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced $11.3 million in expanded funding to eight counties as part of the Safety and Justice Challenge, a national initiative to reduce over-incarceration by changing the way America thinks about and uses jails. Counties to receive funding are in California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Oregon, South Dakota, and Tennessee.
- Legislation making changes to the pretrial release system can be difficult even with bipartisan legislative support. Texas Chief Justice Nathan Hecht says, “Bipartisan things just don’t come along very often these days. I did not think it would be as hard as it turned out to be.”
- California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye wrote a piece for the Harvard Law Review Blog on the cost of money bail to justice. She highlights the collaboration between the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government and the work on this issue for the benefit of all Californians. Recommendations from the workgroup established by the Chief Justice were just released last week.
- Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro safety Malcolm Jenkins wrote about bail reform in week six of his “Criminal Justice Season,” a series of op-eds that compare criminal justice statistics from Philadelphia to those of the Eagles’ opponents. In week seven Jenkins announced that he and other NFL players would be meeting with state lawmakers in Harrisburg to discuss criminal justice reforms and released a video, also featuring retired NFL All-Pro receiver Anquan Boldin, that advocates for an end to cash bail. More from Anquan Boldin here.
- “The most incarcerated city in the most incarcerated state” is having success with a risk-based release pilot program that has now expanded to all four commissioners’ courts in New Orleans.
- New information released by the Prison Policy Initiative shows that 60 percent of women who are in jail have not yet had a trial.
- A Kansas sheriff says that bail bondsmen are not posting bonds for anyone with a Hispanic surname in his jurisdiction because they fear the defendants will be deported, leaving them financially liable.
- Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are among the largest donors to Civil Rights Corps, an organization that has been filing law suits challenging “wealth-based pretrial detention.” The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is also funding other organizations engaged in criminal justice system improvements.
Links to external websites and reports are for information purposes only and do not indicate NCSL’s endorsement of the content.