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18 <br /> 1 Pretrial Services program in the Criminal Justice Resource Department (CJRD), the use of an <br /> 2 empirical risk assessment tool, providing defense counsel at the first appearance, the increased <br /> 3 use of pre-arrest diversion and citations in lieu of arrest, Orange County was still incarcerating <br /> 4 individuals on secured bonds in the majority of cases. <br /> 5 <br /> 6 Since 2019, Orange County senior court stakeholders and the Criminal Justice Resource <br /> 7 Department have collaborated to implement new bail reform initiatives that build on the efforts <br /> 8 that have been underway here for many years. A Pretrial Work Group was established and led <br /> 9 by Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Allen R. Baddour. In addition to court, law <br /> 10 enforcement and pretrial services stakeholders, the Work Group includes Commissioner Renee <br /> 11 Price and bail reform advocates in Orange County. The Work Group received funding from the <br /> 12 County Manager, the CJRD and the District 18 Judicial Bar to contract with Professor Smith to <br /> 13 facilitate the design and implementation of these new initiatives. The goal of the Working Group <br /> 14 is to eliminate the unnecessary pretrial detention of individuals who do not present a significant <br /> 15 risk but who are detained pretrial because they are unable to afford money bonds imposed in <br /> 16 their cases. <br /> 17 <br /> 18 The Work Group decided on two critical reforms to address initially: <br /> 19 A new structured decision-making tool to guide magistrates' bail decisions; and <br /> 20 A new decision-making process for responding to non-appearances in District Court. <br /> 21 <br /> 22 Following many meetings and the support of all stakeholders, the decision-making tool became <br /> 23 effective in October 2020. The Non-Appearance policy became effective in January 2021. The <br /> 24 District 18 Local Bond Policy was amended to include these new reforms. <br /> 25 <br /> 26 The CJRD supported the Criminal Justice Innovation Lab's application for grant funding to <br /> 27 complete an evaluation of the impact of these reforms. The grant funding was awarded and the <br /> 28 evaluation will examine the impact of the reforms on release conditions being imposed,jail <br /> 29 bookings, non-appearance rates, new pretrial criminal activity and other justice system metrics. <br /> 30 The funding also will support a validation of the County's pretrial risk assessment tool and <br /> 31 assistance to the Work Group and Judge Baddour in issuing a new, comprehensive local bail <br /> 32 policy. The Lab's first quarterly evaluation report is scheduled to be released in May 2021. <br /> 33 <br /> 34 Caitlin Fenhagen, Criminal Justice Resource Director, introduced Judge Samantha H. <br /> 35 Cabe and Judge Allen R. Baddour. She made the following PowerPoint presentation. <br /> Bail Reform Initiatives in Orange <br /> County <br /> Presentation to Orange County Board of Commissioners <br /> March 2,2021 Business Meeting <br /> C art tin Fenhagen,CJRD Director <br /> Judge Alien R.Baddour,Senior ResEdent Superior CouaJudge <br /> Judge Samantha H.Cabe.Chief District CounJudge <br /> 36 _ <br /> 37 <br /> 38 <br />