{"title":"Advancing pretrial assessments: Development of the Personal Recognizance Interview & Needs Screen (PRINS)","authors":"Zachary Hamilton, John Ursino, Alex Kigerl","doi":"10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2024.102183","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Purpose</h3><p>Used to reduce detention, bail/bond, and jail, pretrial risk assessments (PRAs) applications have expanded in the last decade. Yet, many PRAs are created with a unique population, adopted ‘off-the-shelf’ in a new location, reducing the tool's accuracy and functionality. Further, many PRAs are created with criminal history indicators, increasing concerns of prediction bias. The current study described the development of the Personal Recognizance Interview & Needs Screen (PRINS).</p></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><p>Using a multistage development process and large sample (<em>N</em> = 28,147) of defendants, we created a tool that combines static and dynamic indicators, gender-responsive modeling, in the prediction of seven outcomes.</p></div><div><h3>Results</h3><p>Findings indicate exceptional accuracy of the PRINS, with relative prediction parity across gender and race/ethnicity sub-groups. Further, compared to the Virginia Pretrial Risk Assessment Instrument, Ohio Risk Assessment System – Pretrial Assessment Tool, and the Public Safety Assessment, we identify greater accuracy via the PRINS and substantial enhancements for higher risk, females, and defendants of color.</p></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><p>We demonstrate the advantages of developing PRAs with dynamic items and incorporating indicators important to judges and stakeholders, while using data gathered locally. Adopting tools with these innovations will improve accuracy, reduce bias, create greater buy-in and, in turn, reduce the use of bond/bail and detention.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48272,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Criminal Justice","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Criminal Justice","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047235224000321","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose
Used to reduce detention, bail/bond, and jail, pretrial risk assessments (PRAs) applications have expanded in the last decade. Yet, many PRAs are created with a unique population, adopted ‘off-the-shelf’ in a new location, reducing the tool's accuracy and functionality. Further, many PRAs are created with criminal history indicators, increasing concerns of prediction bias. The current study described the development of the Personal Recognizance Interview & Needs Screen (PRINS).
Methods
Using a multistage development process and large sample (N = 28,147) of defendants, we created a tool that combines static and dynamic indicators, gender-responsive modeling, in the prediction of seven outcomes.
Results
Findings indicate exceptional accuracy of the PRINS, with relative prediction parity across gender and race/ethnicity sub-groups. Further, compared to the Virginia Pretrial Risk Assessment Instrument, Ohio Risk Assessment System – Pretrial Assessment Tool, and the Public Safety Assessment, we identify greater accuracy via the PRINS and substantial enhancements for higher risk, females, and defendants of color.
Conclusions
We demonstrate the advantages of developing PRAs with dynamic items and incorporating indicators important to judges and stakeholders, while using data gathered locally. Adopting tools with these innovations will improve accuracy, reduce bias, create greater buy-in and, in turn, reduce the use of bond/bail and detention.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Criminal Justice is an international journal intended to fill the present need for the dissemination of new information, ideas and methods, to both practitioners and academicians in the criminal justice area. The Journal is concerned with all aspects of the criminal justice system in terms of their relationships to each other. Although materials are presented relating to crime and the individual elements of the criminal justice system, the emphasis of the Journal is to tie together the functioning of these elements and to illustrate the effects of their interactions. Articles that reflect the application of new disciplines or analytical methodologies to the problems of criminal justice are of special interest.
Since the purpose of the Journal is to provide a forum for the dissemination of new ideas, new information, and the application of new methods to the problems and functions of the criminal justice system, the Journal emphasizes innovation and creative thought of the highest quality.