Dec 2, 2015 3 min read

“Pretrial services” is a term Washington County officials have been talking about for years, but with the Washington County Salary Board voting on adding two positions to the adult probation office, it appears the discussion is about to translate to reality early next year.

Defendants who have either pleaded guilty or no contest or have been found guilty at the conclusion of a trial have long had either evaluations for drug or alcohol abuse or mental health imposed by a judge as part of a sentence.

“They don’t get any services until they’re convicted, and then the judge orders them,” is how President Judge Katherine B. Emery described the current system.

The addition of pretrial services moves these evaluations closer to the time of arrest, although arraignments before a district judge will take place as usual and the district judge will continue to set bond for a defendant.

“It’s getting them involved in services prior to their adjudication, people who have been charged with a crime but have not been convicted,” Emery explained.

The two probation officers to be hired for the program are to interview new inmates at the jail and use an objective risk assessment with a numerical score that takes into account many factors, such as the seriousness of the offense charged, past criminal history and the potential threat the individual poses to public safety. The pretrial services officers will also take into consideration a defendant’s need to be evaluated for substance abuse or mental health problems and treated.

Once the risk assessment performed at the jail has been completed, President Judge Katherine B. Emery plans to have defendants appear before her, via video transmission from jail. An assistant district attorney and public defender or private counsel will be present for the court proceeding. The judge will have the ability to modify a defendant’s bond and order evaluations that should take place long before a case is called for trial or a guilty plea.

“A lot of them are going to have ankle bracelets,” the judge said, the component of electronic home monitoring.

Those who are able to post bond when arraigned are to be scheduled for risk evaluations on the next business day.

The rising number of arrests related to heroin or other opiate addictions is one factor that has led to the initiation of pretrial services and its task to identify those who can enter the specialty court system for drug treatment. Washington County also has mental health and veterans’ courts.

Pretrial services also has a new wrinkle: supervision of those released from the jail and checks for compliance. Bond, a time-honored protocol set not to punish a defendant but to ensure his or her appearance in court, carries no requirements that the person charged with a crime be supervised.

“A condition of bond is ‘Don’t use drugs,’ but no one checks on that,” Emery said.

Failure to comply with the court-ordered evaluations and treatment would land a defendant back in court to answer to the judge, who could revoke a person’s freedom.

Those charged with criminal homicide would not be eligible to be released from jail.

Among fourth-class counties in Pennsylvania, Washington and Cumberland are the only two without a pretrial services program, said Washington County Court Administrator Patrick Grimm.

Allegheny County, the second-largest county in the state, has used and revised its pretrial services program over the course of many years.