Federal Pretrial Officers

Paper Summary:

To determine the changes in responsibilities of federal pretrial officers over the years, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature to include the background and an overview of the federal agency; a description of its policies, procedures, and practices; a description of the structure of the agency; and an assessment of current and future trends. A summary of the research and relevant findings are presented in the conclusion.

From the Paper:

"In the early 1980s, when Congress was considering expansion of pretrial services into all federal courts, federal magistrates testified that neither defense lawyers nor prosecutors were able to provide them with the requisite information for an informed bail decision. Members of the judiciary were clear on how to resolve this need: Judge Gerald B. Tjoflat (11th Circuit), then Chairman of the Committee on the Administration of the Probation System of the Judicial Conference of the United States, stated: "[T]he administration of justice is far better served when a magistrate or judge setting conditions of bail under the Bail Reform Act of 1966 has sufficient accurate and objective information regarding the defendant, his background, the offense and all other evidence that relates to the question of whether he will appear for trial" (p. 12). The judicial system is better served when the judge can make an informed decision, and pretrial services has made a major step in that direction (Mahoney et al., 2001). In the Pretrial Services Act of 1982, Congress subsequently expanded the pilot program by establishing pretrial service agencies in all 94 federal district courts."

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