After more than four years of work on pretrial justice improvements, Thurston County announced the official launch of the Public Safety Assessment (PSA), a validated pretrial risk assessment tool the county will use to inform pretrial releases, on Monday, Oct. 2.
The PSA is a nationally validated pretrial risk assessment tool used in jurisdictions across the country, according to Thurston County. Researchers at RTI International validated the tool on the Thurston County population to ensure it provides valid estimates of the likelihood of pretrial outcomes, specifically whether someone will appear in court, have a new arrest or have a new violent arrest. The validation also shows there is no predictive bias based on race or gender, according to Thurston County officials.
“The purpose of this work is to prioritize community wellbeing and safety, reduce bias and ensure pretrial detention is reserved only for those who jeopardize public safety,” Thurston County said in a news release on Monday.
When a person is arrested and booked into jail, judicial officers consider many factors when deciding what, if any, conditions will be imposed while a person waits for a resolution of their case. Judicial officers must follow the United States Constitution, the Washington state Constitution and the Washington Court Rules. In the United States, everyone who is charged with a crime is presumed innocent, and the U.S. Supreme Court says that during the pretrial period, personal liberty is the norm and detention before trial is the carefully limited exception.
The PSA will provide additional research-based information to judicial officers, prosecutors and defense counsel to inform pretrial decisions, according to the news release.
“While judicial officers will continue to make all decisions regarding detention, release, and conditions of release, the PSA will serve as one more tool they can use to inform their decisions,” the county said in the news release.
The PSA is part of Thurston County’s participation in the national Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research (APPR) initiative, a multi-year project to advance fair, just, effective pretrial justice nationwide. Justice experts, researchers and local justice system members including pretrial services, public defense, the prosecuting attorney’s office, district and superior courts, judges, the sheriff’s office, local law enforcement and the board of county commissioners participated in this collaborative process, according to the news release.
Pretrial services staff will complete the PSA on adults facing potential criminal charges who are booked into the Thurston County jail and coming before the court for a pretrial release decision, according to the news release.
The PSA is intended to help improve the transparency and consistency of pretrial decisions, Thurston County stated.
“The PSA has helped other jurisdictions achieve higher rates of release and lower their use of financial conditions, with no negative impact on crime or court appearance rates,” the county said in a news release.
Moving forward, the county will evaluate local data and pretrial outcomes, including court appearance and no new arrest rates, to assess the impact of these changes and identify further opportunities for improvement in our pretrial system, according to the news release.
To learn more about Thurston County’s pretrial work and the APPR initiative, visit, https://www.thurstoncountywa.gov/departments/pretrial-services/advancing-pretrial-justice.
