Pretrial services agencies

§ 510.45 Pretrial services agencies.

1. The office of court administration shall certify and regularly review for recertification one or more pretrial services agencies in each county to monitor principals released under non-monetary conditions. Such office shall maintain a listing on its public website identifying by county each pretrial services agency so certified in the state.

2. Every such agency shall be a public entity under the supervision and control of a county or municipality or a non-profit entity under contract to the county, municipality or the state. A county or municipality shall be authorized to enter into a contract with another county or municipality in the state to monitor principals under non-monetary conditions of release in its county, but counties, municipalities and the state shall not contract with any private for-profit entity for such purposes.

3. (a) Any questionnaire, instrument or tool used with a principal in the process of considering or determining the principal's possible release on recognizance, release under non-monetary conditions or on bail, or used with a principal in the process of considering or determining a condition or conditions of release or monitoring by a pretrial services agency, shall be promptly made available to the principal and the principal's counsel upon written request. Any such blank form questionnaire, instrument or tool regularly used in the county for such purpose or a related purpose shall be made available to any person promptly upon request.

(b) Any such questionnaire, instrument or tool used to inform determinations on release or conditions of release shall be:

(i) designed and implemented in a way that ensures the results are free from discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, sex, or any other protected class; and

(ii) empirically validated and regularly revalidated, with such validation and revalidation studies and all underlying data, except personal identifying information for any defendant, publicly available upon request.

4. Supervision by a pre-trial services agency may be ordered as a non-monetary condition pursuant to this title only if the court finds, after notice, an opportunity to be heard and an individualized determination explained on the record or in writing, that no other realistic non-monetary condition or set of non-monetary conditions will suffice to reasonably assure the principal's return to court.

5. Each pretrial service agency certified by the office of court administration pursuant to this section shall at the end of each year prepare and file with such office an annual report, which the office shall compile, publish on its website and make available upon request to members of the public. Such reports shall not include any personal identifying information for any individual defendants. Each such report, in addition to other relevant information, shall set forth, disaggregated by each county served:

(a) the number of defendants supervised by the agency;

(b) the length of time (in months) each such person was supervised by the agency prior to acquittal, dismissal, release on recognizance, revocation of release on conditions, and sentencing;

(c) the race, ethnicity, age and sex of each person supervised;

(d) the crimes with which each person supervised was charged;

(e) the number of persons supervised for whom release conditions were modified by the court, describing generally for each person or group of persons the type and nature of the condition or conditions added or removed;

(f) the number of persons supervised for whom release under conditions was revoked by the court, and the basis for such revocations; and

(g) the court disposition in each supervised case, including sentencing information.