SCIENCE-BASED ALGORITHM FOCUSES
ON ISSUES OF FAIRNESS, PUBLIC SAFETY
A new procedure for releasing detainees focuses on public safety and fairness by using a scientifically based algorithm rather than relying on a cash-based bail system.
The algorithm, known as the Public Safety Assessment tool, was developed by examining 750,000 criminal cases, and it identified nine factors that help determine the answers to critical pretrial questions—questions such as what is the likelihood that a released detainee would appear in court for their trial, commit a new crime and perpetrate a violent criminal act?
The PSA tool is free and has been used in more than 50 jurisdictions in cities, counties and states across the U.S.
Incarcerated people, according to ABC News, will receive a score of one to six in a “release conditions matrix,” based on their criminal past. The judge has final say in determining what happens to the individual charged with a crime, but can use the matrix as a tool when deciding to release a detainee before their trial.
“We’re going to hopefully ensure that people who cannot afford a bond are not going to be held just because they can’t afford it. We’re also going to make sure that people that are going to pose any kind of threat or danger to the community that they’re going to actually see a judge before they’re released,” said Nushin Sayfie, chief judge of Miami-Dade County in Florida.
The City of Miami hopes to implement a PSA algorithm in an effort to reform the pretrial bail processes in the county.
The program is used in the state of New Mexico, where 80% of people the algorithm recommended for release in Bernalillo County remained in custody because of the seriousness of their crimes, the district attorney said.
The purpose of this assessment tool is not to replace the judges’ discretion, but to assist them before they release people from custody, said ABC News.
In the current system, a shoplifter arrested in Miami might stay in custody because they cannot afford bail, but a person who is charged with aggravated assault, and who can afford bail, could get out on bond without ever seeing a judge before their trial, reported the article.
Billionaires John and Laura Arnold founded the philanthropy group Arnold Ventures, which created the PSA tool. The developers of the algorithm believe that other conditions, like court reminders by text messages, pretrial supervision and criminal history checks, once a month, will suffice instead of cash bonds.
Judge Sayfie will hold up on implementing the assessment program until Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis announces his proposal of reform to the state’s spring legislative session. Judge Sayfie’s office is confident that their bail reform agenda is in line with the Governors views on criminal justice improvements, noted the news.
But not everybody supports the algorithm.
“There’s been so many panaceas in the criminal justice system that we’ve been promised are going to fundamentally change and move justice forward by, sort of, leaps and bounds,.” I am skeptical that these types of things are going to fundamentally change how courts operate or increase the accuracy of projecting future behavior,” said Patrick Kenneally, McHenry County State Attorney in Illinois
Illinois was about to end the cash bail – the first state in the country to do so – but Kenneally and other state attorneys joined in a lawsuit that halted the program’s implementation.
Many prosecutors believe cashless bail policies will make neighborhoods more dangerous. However, research studies have shown that cash bail does not make an offender appear in court, nor does it make the community safer, said the news story.
Megan Guevara, executive partner with the Pretrial Justice Institute, agrees that bail reform should change to a cashless system but believes that the PSA tool is not the answer because the factors reflect inherent racial bias.
People close to the creation of PSA admit that they have not noticed a reduction in racial disparities where it is being used. PSA can help reduce reliance on the cash bail system, but the PSA, by itself, cannot eliminate racial discrepancies, said ABC News.
Judge Sayfie wants to implement PSA in her district but doesn’t plan to eliminate cash bail. “More people who are arrested currently on firearm charges are going to be seeing a judge that currently don’t. And I believe it’s also going to be better because people will get to be released without having to post a bond if they’re low risk,” she said.
