Virginia’s Pretrial Data Project was established in 2018 under the direction of the Virginia State Crime Commission as part of the Crime Commission’s broader study of the pretrial system in the Commonwealth.(*1) The purpose of the Project was to address the significant lack of data available to answer key questions regarding the pretrial process in Virginia. The Project was an unprecedented, collaborative effort among numerous state and local agencies representing all three branches of government. The Crime Commission’s study focused on a cohort of individuals charged with a criminal offense during a one-month period (October 2017). The work was well received by lawmakers, and the 2021 General Assembly (Special Session I) passed legislation (House Bill 2110 and Senate Bill 1391) directing the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission to continue this work on an annual basis. Virginia’s work in the area of pretrial data collection has begun to receive national attention.

This year, the Sentencing Commission examined individuals with pretrial contact events during Calendar Year (CY) 2021 and CY2022. A contact event is the point at which an individual comes into contact with the criminal justice system and he or she is charged with a criminal offense, thus beginning the pretrial process. As in previous years, for individuals with more than one contact event during the calendar year, only the first event was selected; however, the defendant’s first contact event in a calendar year was excluded if it was identified as a pretrial outcome for an event that occurred during the previous calendar year. Individuals were tracked through disposition of the case or the end of the 15-month follow-up period, whichever came first. The Sentencing Commission adhered to the previously-established data collection methods. Data for the Project was obtained from eight different data systems. Compiling the data into a unified dataset requires numerous iterations of matching, merging and data cleaning to ensure accuracy when linking information from the respective data systems to each defendant in the cohort. More than 500 data elements were captured for each defendant, including demographics, charging details, criminal history records, pretrial release status, bond type and amount, court appearance by the defendant, new criminal arrest during the pretrial period, and final dispositions. The Commission captured additional prior record measures this year based on input from stakeholders.

The Sentencing Commission’s data analysis, presented in this report, focuses on adult defendants whose contact event included a charge for a new criminal offense punishable by incarceration where a bail determination was made by a judicial officer (i.e., a magistrate or judge). Other defendants, such as those released on a summons, were not analyzed for this report. This report presents various descriptive findings for the selected defendants, their key characteristics, how they proceeded through the pretrial system, and outcomes. This report also compares a number of measures across multiple years of data now available. When examining pretrial outcomes, it is important to consider what factors or combination of factors may be associated with success or failure while on pretrial release. Empirically-based risk assessment tools are commonly used to estimate the likelihood of success or failure in the community during the pretrial period. For the purposes of the Project, the Public Safety Assessment (PSA), a pretrial risk assessment tool developed by Arnold Ventures, is utilized. Using the PSA allows the Commission to calculate risk scores for all defendants in the cohort based on available automated data.

To date, the Sentencing Commission’s work has been limited to using in-state criminal history records. This limitation affects the measurement of prior record, the estimation of risk based on the PSA, and outcome measures such as new criminal arrest during the pretrial period. Out-of-state criminal history records can only be obtained from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The Commission previously submitted the required applications and all related documents to the FBI and, after lengthy delays, the FBI has finally approved the Commission’s request. The Commission is working with the FBI to standardize data exchange procedures. As this process is not yet complete, out-of-state records could not be included in this year’s report. The Commission expects that out-of-state criminal history records will be available next year and will greatly enhance the Pretrial Data Project.

This year, the Sentencing Commission conducted a special study to examine the effects of recent changes in bail policy in Virginia. In 2021, the General Assembly passed legislation to abolish the presumptive denial of bail for defendants charged with certain offenses or who otherwise met specified criteria (Senate Bill 1266, 2021 General Assembly, Special Session I). The Commission analyzed the impact of this policy change on various facets of Virginia’s pretrial system, including pretrial release, release on secured bond, failure to appear, and new criminal arrest during the pretrial period.

Virginia’s Pretrial Data Project continues to serve as a valuable resource for policy makers, practitioners, and academics. Findings from the Commission’s ongoing analyses as well as other researchers may be used to inform policy and practice and provide a platform for discussion of pretrial matters in the Commonwealth today and in the years to come.
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(*1) See Virginia State Crime Commission. (2021). Virginia Pretrial Data Project: Final Report.