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Bernalillo County, NM, started using the Public Safety Assessment (PSA) in June 2017. The Bernalillo County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council released a study in November 2019 reviewing the performance of the PSA in the county from implementation to March 2019. The University of New Mexico Institute of Social Research conducted the study.

Researchers studied pretrial outcomes (failure to appear, new criminal arrest, and new violent criminal arrest) associated with 6,000 felony cases disposed of between July 2017 and March 2019. Overall, the PSA performed as expected: increases in scaled PSA scores corresponded to higher rates of pretrial failure.

Consistent with previous studies in other jurisdictions, the study found that a large majority of people assessed with the PSA are successful. They return to court for required hearings and are not arrested while on pretrial release.

  • 82 percent of people released pretrial returned to court as required
  • 83 percent of people released pretrial were not arrested while on pretrial release
  • 4 percent of people released were charged with a new violent crime
  • Of those arrested while on pretrial release, only 12 people (less than 1 percent) were arrested for the most serious category of crime (first degree felony)

“We continue to try to improve our pretrial system, but the research is clear that the PSA is an effective tool for strengthening New Mexico’s justice system. – Artie Pepin, Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts”