LIBERTY AND JUSTICE PRETRIAL PRACTICES IN TEXAS

Together, these measures make it possible to account for pretrial costs in each jurisdiction resulting from
failures to treat pretrial defendants according to their true risk.
As expected, the system using validated risk assessment to make classification decisions had lower
misclassification costs on average ($104 per defendant). Where release is determined by financial means, net
costs were more than four times higher ($433 per defendant, See Figure 9).
Figure 14 illustrates where the costs of misclassification are concentrated. In each jurisdiction, the release of
high-risk defendants generated net costs for pretrial services, bail forfeitures, and victim costs above those
expected if they had been properly detained.
Travis County’s riskinformed
system
also produced a net
misclassification
cost resulting from
failure to jail some
high-risk defendants
who were later rearrested.
In Tarrant
County, on the
other hand, the
release of people
who should have
been detained
produced net
savings from jail
costs avoided.
Figure 14. Costs of Misclassification
(i.e., release of high-risk or detention of low-risk defendants)
Financial Release System: Tarrant County (n=102,193)
Risk-Informed Release System: Travis County (n= 61,114)
$32 $45
$9
Pretrial Program Costs
$63
Bail Failure Case
Processing
($9)
Detention Costs
$365
$8 $25
Victim Costs
Overall, 14% of total pretrial costs are attributable to misclassification in Tarrant County’s financial release
system. In risk-informed Travis County a much lower proportion – just 5% of pretrial expenditures – are due to
placement decisions that are inconsistent with defendants’ risk.
Summary
A pretrial program incorporating risk assessment and personal bond supervision costs roughly 1.5 times more to
operate than a system in which defendants gain release by posting financial bail. However, this study finds
investment in protocols for risk-informed detention and monitoring yields a substantial return in every other
expense category. Risk-informed pretrial release is associated lower rates of bond failure, less new criminal
activity and less violent crime committed while on bond, and fewer pretrial jail days both due to initial detention
and resulting from re-arrest on new offenses. The incremental costs resulting from wrong decisions to release or
detain defendants are also lower where risk-assessment is used. Changing financial release practices that are
widespread in Texas and nationally will require re-thinking current practices, but the evidence suggests benefits
to defendants, jurisdictions, and the community make the effort worthwhile.
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