The Denver Pretrial Services Program (PSP) determines eligibility for release from jail on personal recognizance bonds for defendants in custody on felony arrests. Additionally, staff provides essential information and recommendations to the court for purposes of bond setting and release conditions. Pretrial Services also supervises pretrial defendants as ordered by the court, utilizing a variety of supervision tools including, drug and alcohol testing and electronic monitoring. Furthermore, the office is committed to work with all criminal justice agencies to alleviate system backlogs and inefficiencies.
Denver Pretrial Services is comprised of two functions; Investigation and Supervision
Investigation Unit - is responsible to interview individuals booked into the jail for a felony or class 1 misdemeanor. Upon completion of the interview, a criminal history is compiled and scored along with other stability factors that produce a numerical score that guides staff in preparing bond recommendations to the court, including release on
recognizance. Beginning in 2010, this unit began providing intake packets on all individuals arrested for municipal ordinance violations that involve domestic violence.
During this past year, 6272 interviews were completed.
Supervision Unit - was established in 2006 through collaboration with the Denver Crime Prevention and Control Commission. Adhering to the National Association of Pretrial Service Agencies Standards which directs programs to monitor the detained population and revisit the recommendation if the defendant remains detained, staff review in custody dockets for felons and certain categories of misdemeanants to determine if they are appropriate for release under enhanced supervision. This process formally occurs at the preliminary hearing stage for felons and various hearings in the county court criminal division courtrooms. If ordered to pretrial services at this stage, the defendant will usually be assigned conditions of supervision such as drug and alcohol testing or electronic monitoring.
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In 2010, key outcomes reported by the program:
- < 1% clients terminated for a new crime
- 97.5% appearance rate
- 52,952 jail bed days saved