NCJ Number
80062
Date Published
1981
Length
78 pages
Annotation
This report for 1981 discusses the problems of Connecticut's overburdened criminal justice system with special focus on the pretrial process and offers recommendations to the State legislature to improve the situation at the pretrial level.
Abstract
The report notes that the net result of a lack of a consistent, efficient release policy is that more than one-fourth of all inmates have not been sentenced. More than 11,000 arrested persons spend some time in jail before sentencing each year, simply because they were assigned a bond amount and cannot afford to hire a bail bondsman or do not have the required collateral. The commission gathered information documenting Connecticut's present pretrial release system and examined the release schemes of other States to determine how other jurisdictions are coping with problems similar to those in Connecticut. The pretrial commission proposes passage of a bill to provide that the judicial department will set job qualifications for all bail commissioners. Also, a system should be developed that will enable bail commission staff to be available around the clock as specified by statutes; and uniform, weighted criteria should be used to determine pretrial release. In addition, the pretrial commission recommends passage of a bill which would permit the 10 percent bond deposit to be used by all misdemeanants and class D felons who request it, unless the court states reasons for denying the request. The commission also proposes that alternatives to court processing and pretrial incarceration (such as mediation or community service restitution) be expanded. Footnotes are given. Tables and related documentation are appended. (Author summary modified)