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Pretrial Services — Judicial Business 2018

In 40 percent of the cases opened, the major offense was related to immigration, up from 35 percent in 2017. Cases in which the major offense charged involved drugs accounted for 25 percent of pretrial services cases (down from 28 percent). Cases associated with property offenses represented 10 percent (down from 11 percent), and cases dealing with firearms offenses represented 10 percent (unchanged from 2017).

Pretrial services officers prepare reports for judges to use in determining whether to order the release or detention of defendants. The reports also give judges information useful for establishing appropriate conditions for released defendants. In 2018, officers prepared 95,442 pretrial services reports (up 12 percent). Ninety-seven percent of the reports were pre-bail reports.

Table 9
Summary of Pretrial Services Cases
Fiscal Years 2014 - 2018

	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	Percent Change 2017 - 2018
Total Cases Activated	100,068	95,013	91,709	88,750	99,931	12.6
Pretrial Services Cases	99,355	94,276	91,111	88,255	99,494	12.7
Pretrial Diversion Cases	713	737	598	495	437	-11.7
Total Released on Supervision	25,209	24,547	23,592	23,186	23,649	2.0
Pretrial Supervision	24,185	23,522	22,735	22,469	23,000	2.4
Diversion Supervision	1,024	1,025	857	717	649	-9.5
Type of Report
Pre-Bail	93,598	88,980	85,988	82,447	92,840	12.6
Other Reports (Including Post-Bail)	2,552	2,390	2,260	2,654	2,602	-2.0
No Report	3,205	2,906	2,863	3,154	4,052	28.5

A total of 90,398 bail determinations were made by the courts. Including immigration cases involving crimes such as illegal reentry, 25 percent of all defendants were released on bail. When immigration cases are excluded, the percentage of defendants released was 39 percent.

A total of 23,649 defendants were received for supervision by pretrial services (up 2 percent). The proportion of defendants in the country illegally continued to affect the number of persons received for supervision, because illegal aliens and defendants charged with immigration offenses are more likely to be detained given their higher risk of failure to appear in court. In 2018, 45 percent of defendants in pretrial services cases were illegal aliens.

For persons under pretrial services supervision, officers monitor compliance with the release conditions set by the courts, provide necessary support services (such as substance abuse treatment and location monitoring), and inform the courts and U.S. attorneys of apparent violations of release conditions. A total of 26,028 defendants were released with specified conditions in 2018. The release condition ordered most often was pretrial services supervision, which was imposed on 89 percent of defendants released, up 1 percent from last year.

Substance abuse treatment and testing were ordered for 41 percent of defendants, unchanged from 2017. Substance abuse testing alone (without treatment) was ordered for 14 percent of defendants, down 1 percent from the previous year.

Pretrial diversion is a period of supervision proposed by a U.S. attorney and agreed to by a defendant as an alternative to the prosecution of criminal charges in federal court. Diversion preserves prosecutorial and judicial resources for more serious criminal matters. In 2018, the number of pretrial diversion cases activated decreased 12 percent to 437 and accounted for less than 1 percent of activated cases.

Over the past five years, the number of pretrial services reports prepared has declined 1 percent, and the number of persons interviewed has grown 2 percent to 51,710 (not all defendants are interviewed—defendants may decline to be interviewed, and sometimes interviews are not possible—but for each defendant, a pretrial services report is usually written).

For data on pretrial services activity, see Table 9 and the H series of tables.