Many counties have made changes to their pretrial justice systems and practices as a way to safely reduce jail populations, more effectively use resources and improve outcomes for individuals and communities. Three new county case studies from NACo highlight pretrial system improvements made in Lucas County, Ohio; Mesa County, Colo.; and Milwaukee County, Wis. Learn how these counties identified opportunities for change in their criminal justice systems and established working pretrial models in their county. Click below to access all three resources.

Pretrial Justice in Practice: Lucas County, Ohio

This case study details how Lucas County has made changes to its pretrial practices to combat jail overcrowding. Learn about Lucas County’s pretrial system, including its use of a validated risk assessment tool, how agencies and systems share data and the implementation of a Population Review Team to identify individuals who may safely be released pretrial.   Click here to read the case study.

Pretrial Justice in Practice: Mesa County, Colorado

This case study details how an examination of Mesa County’s judicial practices ultimately led to changes to the county’s pretrial justice system. Learn about Mesa County’s pretrial system, including its use of a validated risk assessment and how the county collects and tracks data—and how the county made these changes without any outside funding. Click here to read the case study.

Pretrial Justice in Practice: Milwaukee County, Wisconsin

This case study outlines how Milwaukee County has moved away from a one-size-fits-all pretrial system to one that offers individualized supervision strategies. Learn how Milwaukee County uses its pretrial risk assessment and praxis to recommend pretrial supervision conditions and how the county has tripled the number of individuals on pretrial supervision. Click here to read the case study.