“Pretrial Assessment Services” and “Prearraignment Reviews” in California criminal cases

If California voters choose to pass Senate Bill 10 in the November 2020 referendum, California courts will largely rely on Pretrial Assessment Services (PAS) to determine whether defendants should be released on their own recognizance (OR) pending the outcome of the case. Defendants will no longer be able to bail out.

PAS‘s primary function is to estimate a defendant’s risk level of injuring others or missing court should the defendant get OR release:

Most California misdemeanor defendants get automatic OR release, while most defendants facing serious California felony charges remain jailed. For defendants who fall somewhere in between, PAS holds prearraignment reviews to decide whether to release or continue jailing them pending the trial. These reviews usually occur within a day of the defendant’s booking.

Each court will have its own PAS division or will contract with a local public agency to perform the same services.

In this article, our Los Angeles California criminal defense attorneys discuss:

• 1. Pretrial Assessment Services (PAS)
• 2. PAS vs. Pretrial Services
• 3. Pretrial Risk Assessments
• 4. Prearraignment Reviews

1. Pretrial Assessment Services (PAS) in California

Pretrial Assessment Services (PAS) is a division of California criminal courts that determines whether newly-arrested defendants should remain in jail or released on their own recognizance pending their trial.

If California voters choose to pass Senate Bill 10 in the November 2020 referendum, every California criminal court will have a PAS division. PAS will be staffed by either court employees or contract workers from a local, qualified public agency. The Judicial Council will fund PAS.

If California voters choose to pass Senate Bill 10 in the November 2020 referendum, defendants in California criminal cases will no longer have the opportunity to bail out. Instead, PAS will conduct pretrial risk assessments to determine whether defendants are likely to:

• hurt someone else if they are released on their own recognizance, or
• miss future court appearances if they are released on their own recognizance

Scroll down to section 3 for a more detailed explanation of pretrial risk assessments.¹

2. Pretrial Assessment Services (PAS) versus Pretrial Services in California

Many California courts or probation departments currently have a “Pretrial Services” division that provides defendant background information and release recommendations to the court. Depending on the particular jurisdiction, courts will create entirely new PAS divisions or rely on a modified version of their current Pretrial Services division.

Note that PAS services will not supervise defendants released on their own recognizance (OR). Instead, the local probation department is tasked with overseeing whether OR defendants are complying with their release conditions.²

3. Pretrial Risk Assessments in California

PAS conducts “pretrial risk assessments” of newly-arrested people to determine whether they are at low-, medium-, or high-risk of:

• hurting someone else if they are released on their own recognizance, or
• missing future court appearances if they are released on their own recognizance

Defendants with a low-risk grade may be freed from jail on their own recognizance (OR) pending the trial. Meanwhile, medium-risk defendants may or may not get released from jail: PAS holds prearraignment review to make this decision (as discussed below in section 4). Finally, high-risk defendants remain in jail pending the trial.

Pretrial risk assessments are based on a validated risk assessment tool backed by science and shown to be reliable for calculating a person’s risk level.

Note that people arrested for misdemeanors generally get released from jail without first getting a pretrial risk assessment. The only exception is if the misdemeanor charge was for either:

1. California crime of stalking;
2. California crime of domestic battery;
3. California crime of corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant;
4. California crime of violation of a protective order if the defendant allegedly either:
   • made threats to kill or harm the victim,
   • engaged in violence against the victim, or
   • went to the victim’s residence or workplace

In short, PAS may not release defendants on OR if they charged with either of these four misdemeanors.³

4. Prearraignment Reviews in California

A prearraignment review is when PAS decides whether to either:

• release defendants on their own recognizance (OR),
• release defendants on supervised OR, or
• continue jailing defendants pending the trial.

Like it sounds, a prearraignment review takes place prior to the arraignment (the formal filing of charges). Specifically, these reviews must occur within 24 hours of the defendant’s booking. (However, they can be postponed for an additional 12 hours for good cause shown.)

If PAS decides not to release a defendant on OR, the court can also conduct its own prearraignment review of that defendant. However, courts may not conduct prearraignment reviews of defendants charged with especially serious offenses — such as violent felonies.

If PAS decides to release a defendant on OR, the prosecution can request a preventive detention hearing to contest the release:  A preventive detention hearing is where the judge makes the final determination about whether to continue jailing the defendant.

4.1. OR release

Defendants granted OR release by PAS pose a low- or medium-risk of hurting others or missing future court appearances. OR defendants have to abide by the following requirements:

• Appear at every required court hearing;
• Stay in California unless the court gives permission to leave;
• Waive extradition if the defendant misses court and gets arrested outside California; and
• Obey all court orders

4.2. Supervised OR release

Defendants granted supervised OR release pose a medium-risk of hurting others or missing future court appearances. Supervised OR release is different from regular OR release in that it imposes extra conditions that the defendant has to follow. Common examples of these conditions include:

• A 9:00 p.m curfew
• Unannounced drug and alcohol testing
• Avoiding contact with certain people and locations
• Rehab
• Wearing a California SCRAM alcohol-detection bracelet
• Submitting to police searches and seizures
• Electronic monitoring in California
  

The PAS is required to impose the least restrictive condition(s) necessary to reasonably assure the safety of the public and the defendant’s return to court.

4.3. Detention

Defendants ordered to remain in jail pending the outcome of their case pose either a medium-risk or high-risk of hurting others or missing court appearances.⁴

Call a California criminal defense attorney…

Arrested in California? Our Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys will fight to get you released on your own recognizance with the minimum conditions. Then we will fight to get your charges reduced or dismissed. And if necessary, we can take your case all the way to trial in pursuit of a not guilty verdict.

For a free consultation, contact our legal team right now.

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