Risk of Revocation: Assessing Correlates of Failure in a Pretrial Services Program

Abstract Personal recognizance (PR) bonds, often an option in pretrial services programs, allow defendants to be released while awaiting trial without financial backing. This offers some relief for jail overcrowding and permits the defendant the ability to maintain responsibilities of daily life. Not everyone released, however, successfully participates in these programs. This study seeks to analyze correlates and predictors of various types of non-compliance that could result in pretrial release forfeiture, operationalized by failure to appear in court and incurring new charges while on PR bond. This dependent variable is analyzed with several predictor variables that are excluded from traditional risk assessment tools and criminal history to determine the offenders most at risk for failure on pretrial release through a PR bond. Findings suggest the presence of several protective factors for program failure that are not typically considered when making release decisions such as having a passport and being the primary caregiver of children. The implications of these effects as well as variables that were collected but unable to be included in the present study are discussed.