Pretrial

The Partners will refine the curriculum for the proposed TPA based on BJA guidance and will solicit feedback from past TPA participants. The Partners will announce the academy dates electronically to probation, police, courts, and tribal leaders. A BJA approved participation application will be sent and reviewed with weight given to applicants who have one to three years of relevant experience; who have not previously attended the academy; who are from diverse tribes; who work within existing probation departments; and who are seeking to implement evidence based practices.

NACDL staff will travel to Riverside County (CA) to provide technical and training assistance for prosecutors, judges, defenders, and probation. Riverside County's probation department has offered to conduct a training for all four groups with the goal of educating them on the county's bail practices and risk-assessment use.

Provided advice and guidance to Thurston County, WA on planning for selection or creation of a pretrial risk assessment instrument, and preparing to validate the selected tool. We set an outline for a multi-phase TA engagement with them, and defined a scope of work for the first phase, guiding selection of an existing tool or planning for local development of a new tool.

Working to establish a risk assessment for domestic violence cases and a protocol to supervise defendants in the community in accordance with their risk level

NACDL, working in consultation with Professor Michele LaVigne of the University of Wisconsin Law School, has drafted a pretrial release manual, tailored to the specific legal framework and Wisconsin’s defense bar’s needs and challenges. The manual includes a discussion of fundamental bail issues and case law, practice guidelines and checklists for effective bail advocacy, a catalog of Wisconsin's laws and procedures, sample pleadings, applicable risk-assessment tools, and cites to available resources within the jurisdiction.

In connection with NACDL’s pretrial training and technical assistance in New Jersey we are producing training videos to support our previously published pretrial release manual and live training that were made pursuant to this grant.

In connection with NACDL’s pretrial training and technical assistance in Colorado we are producing training videos to support our previously published pretrial release manual and live training that were made pursuant to this grant.

State Agency Administrators (SAA) and Governors’ Criminal Justice Policy Advisors (CJPAs) joined together in Charleston, South Carolina on December 14-15, 2017 for the Institute for State Criminal Justice and Public Safety Executives, hosted by NCJA and the National Governor’s Association (NGA). Representatives from 38 states and territories registered for the event which featured a robust agenda of high priority topics, networking opportunities and discussions.

The 2017 National Forum on Criminal Justice: is a true partnership among policymakers, practitioners, researchers and people in the private sector who are dedicated to the ideal of equal justice for all. This conference showcases programs, research and technologies that help justice practitioners and decision makers in states, local communities and tribal nations address pressing public safety issues.

NACDL staff will speak at a series of training programs for New Jersey Office of the Public Defender attorneys preparing to represent clients at first appearances and preventive detention hearings, in conjunction with the release of The New Jersey Pretrial Justice Manual.