NCJ Number
81632
Date Published
Unknown
Length
0 pages
Annotation
Five criminal justice specialists and a successfully rehabilitated ex-offender discuss pretrial release and diversion programs as well as due process for arrested persons who have not yet faced trial in relation to the proposed goals and standards put forth at the conference.
Abstract
An ex-offender who works as a counselor in Rockville, Md., describes his experiences with the criminal justice system and the chance he was given to rehabilitate himself by participating in the Second Genesis Program in Virginia when he was on probation for a Federal offense. A former Washington, D.C., police officer discusses the police perspective of pretrial diversion, pointing out how pretrial diversion contradicts police officers' immediate goals of meeting monthly arrest quotas and how these programs make the police feel alienated from the rest of the criminal justice system. The warden of the Baltimore City Jail states that the expansion of pretrial diversion programs helped reduce the number of people in jail who could not make bail. Between November 1974 and March 1975, 4,098 arrested persons were released on their own recognizance in Baltimore and only 42 of these were rearrested. He emphasizes that the denial of individual freedom in this country must be confronted when people are held in pretrial detention because they cannot raise bail money (even for under $1,000). The last speaker, Chief Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, asserts that the proposed standards for diversion are unrealistic because they say, in effect, that the crime is irrelevant and that the only consideration is whether diversion will help the offender. He states that although detention is difficult to justify on constitutional grounds, diversion is difficult to justify for repeat offenders who commit serious crimes. A discussion with the audience ensues. For the final conference report, see NCJ 51935.