Investigates the role the Probation Service might play in the field of pre trial services. Considers how pre trial services can help shape the future of probation practice when the fastest growing sector of the prison population consists of those awaiting trial or sentencing.

Pretrial services (PS) programs can be valuable resources for making significant improvements in the criminal justice system because they are used in the early stages of the criminal case process. This report provides a review of issues and practices in the PS field. It describes how pretrial programs operate, discusses key policy issues, and outlines issues and challenges for the future. It pays particular attention to how PS programs obtain and convey information relevant to the pretrial release/detention decision. Describes how PS agencies, the court, and other criminal justice system agencies can work together to minimize the risks of nonappearance and pretrial crime.

"Project of the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Standards Committee, Criminal Justice Section"--Title page verso.

Most people in jail have not been convicted of a crime. Instead, they have been accused of a crime and cannot afford to post the bail amount to guarantee their freedom until trial. Punishing Poverty examines how the current system of pretrial release detains hundreds of thousands of defendants awaiting trial. Tracing the historical antecedents of the US bail system, with particular attention to the failures of bail reform efforts in the mid to late twentieth century, the authors describe the painful social and economic impact of contemporary bail decisions. The first book-length treatment to analyze how bail reproduces racial and economic inequality throughout the criminal justice system, Punishing Poverty explores reform efforts, as jurisdictions begin to move away from money bail systems, and the attempts of the bail bond industry to push back against such reforms. This accessibly written book gives a succinct overview of the role of pretrial detention in fueling mass incarceration and is essential reading for researchers and reformers alike.