Pretrial Initiative
Challenge
As jurisdictions release more people from jail while they await trial, many agencies are working to implement practices that reduce harm to those individuals while maintaining public safety. Jurisdictions and judges often lack easy access to data on who has supervision conditions attached to their release (such as drug testing or check-ins with the pretrial agency), whether they are meeting those conditions, and what additional supports they need to successfully await trial in the community. This lack of insight makes it harder for jurisdictions and judges to rightsize their supervision of individuals released before trial. When judges require higher levels of pretrial supervision, people awaiting trial and jurisdictions can face added costs, increased risk that an individual will be sent to jail if they break the conditions of their release, and unmanageable strain on pretrial agency caseloads.
Our Approach
Reforming pretrial supervision requires efforts by various system stakeholders, including judges, pretrial leadership, pretrial supervision officers, and court staff. Working alongside these stakeholders, the GPL's Pretrial Initiative provides applied research and technical assistance to state and local jurisdictions that want to improve their pretrial outcomes while making pretrial supervision less restrictive.
Through the Pretrial Initiative, jurisdictions receive support focused on making data-driven pretrial supervision decisions and building new processes that allow for alternatives to punitive conditions. This includes the implementation of data-driven performance management (DDPM) — a public management tool that involves high-frequency reviews of performance metrics with key stakeholders to improve target outcomes. The GPL has helped jurisdictions across the country use DDPM to help measure what matters and drive improvements in government practice.
In 2023, the GPL’s Pretrial Initiative expanded to provide pro bono applied research support and technical assistance to five jurisdictions:
- Superior Court of Alameda County (California)
- Clark County District Court (Washington)
- Illinois Office of Statewide Pretrial Services
- Las Vegas Justice Court (Nevada)
- Santa Cruz County Probation Department’s Pretrial Division (California)
These jurisdictions will receive applied research support and technical assistance that may include:
- Real-time data analysis support to identify challenges and solutions related to client success (such as court appearance and safety rates), pretrial release use, pretrial condition use, and community-based service referrals
- Hands-on coaching for dashboard and metrics development
- Training for pretrial stakeholders on implementing data-driven performance management
- Dedicated support for convening judicial stakeholders to discuss data and pretrial initiatives
To learn more, read the press release.
"I am thrilled that the Clark County District Court will receive technical assistance and applied research support from the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab. We are striving to find the appropriate supervision levels and increase measures of pretrial success, such as reducing recidivism rates, reducing the jail population, imposing appropriate conditions to ensure public safety, and reminding clients about their court dates. By providing judges with actionable data and the GPL’s expertise and experience in pretrial justice, Clark County hopes to become the model agency in Washington State."
–Mindy Rowland, Pretrial Manager, Clark County District Court
"For the past year, the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab has worked with us to use data-driven decision-making throughout our agency, including support on creating internal dashboards and generating insights on pretrial client service needs. With the GPL’s continued assistance, we look forward to increasing fairness and equality in the pretrial process.”
–Joanne Olson, Chief of Staff, Illinois Office of Statewide Pretrial Services
“Initially
, the GPL created a feedback loop for County Criminal Court judges. The pilot project that the GPL ran shared data with judges with the intent to adjust the use of pretrial release conditions based on defendant compliance, court appearance rates, and rates of new arrest among defendants awaiting trial. As the judges saw the successes of removing conditions while maintaining important measures of safety, they became very invested and were eager to participate actively in the initiative. From my perspective, it laid the groundwork for better communication between judges and Pretrial Services.”
– Natalie Michailides, Director, Harris County Pretrial Services Agency
“I had been interested in creating a more responsive supervision system for some time, but I did not have the real-time information I needed to make adjustments. I saw that throughout the county, cases were taking longer to be disposed and no one was talking about how to systematically get people off of supervision. I saw the step-downs pilot started by the GPL, and all the information that accompanied the pilot, as a proactive step towards shortening the time individuals were on conditions and making conditions less costly to clients. For these reasons, I joined the pilot and recruited my peers to do the same.”
– Judge Sedrick Walker, Harris County Criminal Court #11