According to your authors, which types of individuals appear to be best suited for pretrial release? Be sure to fully explain your answer

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The pretrial release decision at the state level typically consists of a quantitative point system of the potential risk posed, whereas the federal system relies on a pretrial investigation interview and scoring a Risk Prediction Index (RPI). The RPI was approved for use as an estimate of the likelihood that a defendant will fail to appear for the next court hearing or commit a new crime if released. The RPI ranges from 0 to 9 and considers the number of arrests, whether a weapon was used in the most recent offense, defendant's employment, history of illegal drug use/alcohol abuse, previous escapes while on supervision, education level, and living situation (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, 2005a). We know that individuals more likely to be released pretrial tended to have no prior convictions or had only one misdemeanor conviction, were employed at arrest, had some college education, were more than 40 years of age, or were female (Cohen & Reaves, 2006). Also, pretrial defendants with mental illnesses were considered for pretrial release because they could obtain the necessary services in the community more often than in a jail environment (Clark & Henry, 2003). In summary, individuals best suited for release would have stable employment and residence plans; be more highly educated; be accused of less serious, nonviolent offenses; have little or no prior criminal history; be more mature, and not be addicted to drugs or alcohol.