Pretrial release programs supervise defendants who have been released from jail while awaiting disposition of their criminal charges. As required by statute, OPPAGA conducts an annual study of pretrial programs that meet certain statutory criteria, administers a survey to gather information from the programs, and interviews and visits some programs. Thirty-two pretrial programs responded to the survey regarding 2023 operations and reported serving over 69,000 defendants. The surveyed programs vary in several ways that influence program operations and services.
To remain on pretrial release, defendants must comply with all court-ordered conditions until the final disposition of their case. All pretrial programs reported a rate of less than 7% for participants failing to appear in court and varying numbers of defendant rearrests. Most programs reported successful program completion rates of over 70%.
In 2023, program expenditures totaled over $47 million with county funds comprising 96% of pretrial program budgets statewide. No program reported receiving state general revenue funds, while six programs reported receiving grant funds. Pretrial budgets ranged from $33,500 (DeSoto County) to $10 million (Broward County).
Statute requires each pretrial program to prepare a weekly register with information about program participants an an annual report of program activities and operations. Pretrial programs generally complied with these statutory requirements, with 31 programs providing OPPAGA with weekly registers and 31 programs providing an annual report. However, many programs did not include all statutorily required data elements in the registers or annual report. The Legislature could consider statutory modifications to update the annual report requirements to reflect best practices.
View Report