Pretrial release is an alternative to incarceration that allows arrested defendants to be released from jail while they await disposition of their criminal charges. Florida has 29 pretrial release programs that provide supervision for defendants charged with a wide range of criminal charges. These programs do not consider indigency as a factor for eligibility, although most of their defendants served are indigent.
Data is not available to compare defendants in pretrial release programs to those released on bond or on their own recognizance. However, national research indicates that failure to appear and rearrest rates for defendants released to a pretrial release program and those released on bond are comparable. Defendants released on recognizance had a higher rate of failure to appear.
Florida's pretrial release programs generally are using best practices suggested by literature to help ensure defendants appear in court and are not rearrested. Some programs report that new statutory reporting requirements increase their operating costs; the Legislature could consider streamlining some requirements to improve clarity and make them less burdensome.

Copies of this report in print or alternate accessible format may be obtained by email OPPAGA@oppaga.fl.gov, telephone (850) 488-0021, or mail 111 W. Madison St., Room 312 Tallahassee, FL 32399-1475.