By Samuel A. Torres

This report investigates the alignment of scores on the Criminogenic Risk and Behavioral Health Needs Framework (“risk-needs framework”) with recidivism likelihood as part of a broader evaluation of the Resource Reentry Center (RRC) and Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) in Bernalillo County. Recidivism is operationalized as a subsequent arrest beyond an initial booking into the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC). The capacity of the risk-needs framework to predict new bookings is compared with that of the Proxy Risk to Recidivate Screener (“Proxy”), one of the screening tools used to construct risk-needs framework scores. Retrospective analysis of jail data over an eight-month period for over 6,000 inmates originally released between July and October 2019 indicates that risk-needs framework scores do not correspond to jail readmission rates or length of stay in a consistent manner. The Proxy scores align much more closely with subsequent bookings and length of stay. If the goal of the risk-needs framework is at least partly to predict recidivism risk, this report recommends the Proxy be used in lieu of the full framework to screen arrestees’ risk to reoffend.

Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, Institute for Social Research, Center for Applied Research and Analysis, 2021. 13p.  

By E. Ferguson, H. De La Cerda, and P. Guerin 

This report reviews the impact of preventive detention motions on the Failure to Appear (FTA) and New Criminal Activity (NCA) rate for individuals in Bernalillo County charged with felony crimes and for which the Public Safety Assessment (PSA) was administered and used in the pretrial release decision making process from the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC). This report contains several sections. Following this introduction, we include a brief description of the sample of court cases used in this review. Next, we discuss PSA recommendations and crime types, the PSA and pretrial detention motions, pretrial detention motions and FTA and NCA rates, and NCA and charge levels. 

Highlights: • A Pre-Trial Detention motion was more likely to be granted for cases with more restrictive PSA recommendations. • Preventive Detention Motions were not associated with failure to appear to court or new criminal activity. • As PSA recommendation categories became more restrictive FTA rates and NCA rates increased. • The most serious charge for BCMC cases were violent (35%), property (30%), and drug (27%). • ROR release recommendations accounted for 32.7% of violent charges recommendations. RORs had an FTA rate of 8.5% and an NCA rate of 8.3%. • PSA recommendation categories were not evenly distributed between violent and non-violent charges. • Preventive detention motions have been filed for all PSA recommendation categories, including 18.7% with a ROR. • Higher FTA and NCA rates were associated with drug offenses, property offenses and public order offenses. • Overall, the new criminal activity rate was less than 20% and was primarily for charges of a lower or equivalent level as the assessed case. 

Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, Institute for Social Research , 2020. 16p.