Pretrial risk assessment update

A five-month snapshot shows that since January, Alaska's new Pretrial Enforcement Division (PED) has provided courts with 7,436 pretrial risk assessments based on a new tool that calculates whether a defendant is at low, moderate, or high risk for failure to appear at trial or to commit another crime if released.

The January 2018 Alaska Justice Forum reported on the development of the tool and discussed its implementation with Pretrial Enforcement Division Director Geri Fox.

The tool, along with supervision provided by PED, is designed to ensure that we understand the risk level of people held in jail and that low risk defendants are not held in jail, according to Fox.

This snapshot provides performance indicators rather than outcome measures, according Fox.  Preliminary numbers show that 1,492 individuals charged with crimes are currently being supervised out of a total of 2,503 supervised since January. Some of those who are no longer being supervised have had their charges dismissed or have been convicted and no longer require supervision.

The monthly average unsentenced jail population gradually increased between February 2017, when it was 1,736, to a high of 1,967 in February 2018. Since February 2018, there has been a gradual decline to 1,898 in May 2018.

Total bookings for the first five months of 2017 are about 1,000 less than they've been during the first five months of 2018.

Some factors that Fox says may account for the increase in bookings is that Anchorage Police Department hired 100 new officers. SB54, which passed last year, also increased the penalties for some offenses. Fox adds that these are just some of the reasons.

Only 25% of those who are jailed after violating conditions of release have been "re-released." This is  much lower than previous years. In 2016, 66% of pretrial returns to jail were re-released, in 2017 it was 74%, and in 2018, 66%, for those not supervised by the Pretrial Enforcement Division.

Even as the number of people being supervised has increased, the number of warrants being issued has not gone up, according to Fox. "As people have a better understanding of where they need to go and what they need to do, they are being successful on supervision," she said.

The Pretrial Enforcement Division continues to collect data on the program and the impact it is having on jail population and public safety.