Exploring the Relationship of Domestic Violence Charges on Release and Detention Decision-Making and Pretrial Outcomes

Domestic violence (DV) cases create challenges for pretrial release decision-making. Pretrial assessment instruments are not typically developed to predict the likelihood of a pretrial DV arrest; rather, they are developed to predict failure to appear for a scheduled court date, pretrial arrest for any charge, or pretrial arrest for violence (but not defined as DV exclusively). As such, courts often have limited objective assessment data available to inform their release decision for DV cases. The current study explores the release and detention decision and the likelihood of pretrial outcomes, including pretrial DV arrest, using the Public Safety Assessment (PSA).