APPR research activities include the following:
Change can be driven by different people, processes, and events. It is important to study these “contexts” to understand how change happens and to identify opportunities for improvement. RTI is talking with policymakers and community members in each Research-Action Site to learn who’s involved in changing their pretrial system and how they work together.
To learn from pretrial change, it is important to know what steps were taken and when processes were put in place. RTI is studying how local policymakers and technical assistance providers collaborate and what they do to implement the PSA and other pretrial improvements.
A pretrial assessment tool that works well in one site might not perform as well in another. Pretrial assessments also should address the priorities and needs of the communities that use them. RTI is testing how the PSA works in the Research-Action Sites and helping them use local data to adapt the PSA for their pretrial system and goals. Then they’ll measure how a localized PSA performs relative to the original PSA.
RTI’s research will examine pretrial practices, policies, and norms. Other research activities will focus on the relationship between release conditions, including financial conditions of release, and pretrial outcomes.
Transparency is among APPR’s pretrial justice values. Research methods and findings will be made public and shared broadly. APPR’s research is intended to have real-world relevance. This includes building a knowledge base with research that is:
Research methods and findings will be publicly available on this website and Open Science Framework. RTI’s pre-analysis plan for PSA validation is available here. As research progresses, RTI will upload deidentified data, statistical code used to generate key findings, and reports. In addition, research findings will be shared through conference presentations, webinars, infographics, and publications. Researchers will share oral, visual, and written materials as they become available.
The Racial and Community Justice Committee is an internal committee of RTI researchers. Their role is to ensure that APPR research is grounded in a commitment to equity and informed by people directly affected by pretrial systems. This includes people whose voices often are not listened to in change efforts. RTI’s research seeks to understand and address how racism and inequity shape data, processes, and outcomes. It also means emphasizing that researchers must continually work to avoid perpetuating and intensifying bias.
Conducting Anti-Racist Research on Pretrial Release Assessments (PDF)
April 2024
Using Data to Explore Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Criminal Legal System (PDF)
August 2022
Why use “Criminal Legal System” Instead of “Criminal Justice System?” (PDF)
August 2022
The APPR Research Advisory Board is a panel of external experts who review RTI’s research, ask tough questions, and offer new perspectives. These experts are leaders in national conversations about pretrial research, advocacy, and practice. They include people who experienced pretrial incarceration. Quarterly meetings with the Advisory Board increase RTI’s accountability to rigorous research standards, cutting-edge advancements in pretrial practices, and the viewpoints of people whose lives are directly affected by pretrial policies.
RTI’s research team includes experts in pretrial assessments, multisite criminal legal evaluations, data acquisition and management, advanced statistical techniques, and organizational psychology. We apply a racial equity lens to our work and engage people, families, and community members affected by the criminal legal system.
For more information about RTI’s APPR research agenda, contact Matthew DeMichele.