NCJ Number
89690
Editor(s)
E Gaynes
Date Published
1982
Length
153 pages
Annotation
Nine articles examine important issues in pretrial justice -- release, diversion, and mediation -- and address the fundamental dilemma confronting pretrial services: the conflict between public safety and fairness to individuals.
Abstract
A discussion of Assembly Bill 2, passed by the California Legislature in 1979 and allowing for the use of deposit bail in misdemeanor cases, notes that the bill has not had much impact on California's pretrial release system. An examination of the impact of public opinion on judicial decisions regarding bail in Memphis, Tenn., finds that the public's concern with dangerousness does influence judicial decisions on who gets bail and who is detained pending a trial. One paper discusses the right to counsel and equal protection in Nebraska for defendants charged with certain crimes, while another describes how pretrial release programs suffering from budget cuts can benefit from expanding their use of volunteers. The history and role of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors in providing technical assistance to the Treatment Alternatives to Street Crime programs is recounted. Two articles discuss a nontraditional alcohol treatment program in Rochester, N.Y., called Creative Interventions. The program gives offenders charged with a felony the chance to have the charge reduced to a misdemeanor. The final two papers examine dispute mediation in a court-sponsored project in Kentucky and the dynamics of a mediation session based on data compiled at the Suffolk County Community Mediation Justice Center Program (New York). Tables, diagrams, footnotes, and references accompany most papers. For individual articles, see NCJ 89691-98.