PRETRIAL SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE

The IPCSA Pretrial Services Advisory Committee is the closest thing we have to a statewide association where pretrial professionals can meet and collectively discuss the status, needs, and operation of pretrial services in Illinois. It would be great if many of us attend this meeting in order to identify the needs of pretrial services programs in the State of Illinois and strengthen the network among those who work in the pretrial services field. Hope to see you there!

Anita Maxey (217) 424-1733 amaxey@probation.co.macon.il.us

Keith Cooprider 847-377-3687 kcooprider@co.lake.il.us

IPCSA PRETRIAL SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPORT

DECEMBER 2006

The Committee has had quite a productive year. To begin with, the first statewide Pretrial Services Program Survey has been completed. The purpose of the Survey was to collect various data on the practice of pretrial services, thus providing a statistical picture of the operational status of pretrial programs in Illinois. Of the thirty-five counties that were sent the survey, twenty-eight responded for a remarkable 80% return rate. Of the seven jurisdictions that did not reply, follow-up with these counties indicated that they had no formal pretrial services program and/or performed little, if any, pretrial-related services for the court. In addition, from the data obtained from the Survey, the first-ever State of Illinois Pretrial Services Directory was published. The Directory contains a detailed list of programs, services, and contacts of those agencies that responded to the Survey. Based on the initiative of the Committee, the Survey’s success benefited greatly by the work of Rich Ludolph and Greg Anderson of the AOIC, which included data compilation and analysis. The AOIC was instrumental in publishing the survey results in a written report and doing a Powerpoint Presentation at this year’s Fall Conference. Rich took on the bulk of the research responsibilities and his contributions to the project were of superior quality. The Committee would like to publicly thank Rich and the AOIC for their dedication and involvement in this project. If interested in obtaining a copy of the Survey results and Pretrial Directory, contact Rich at AOIC-Springfield.

Several Committee members—Tanya and Marty from Kane County; Keith and Steve from Lake County--were able to attend the National Association of Pretrial Services Agencies’ (NAPSA) 34^th Annual Conference and Training Institute in Nashville. There were several notable workshops, including the application of evidence-based practices at the pretrial stage, the expanding use of pretrial information, what to do about defendants who fail to appear, the legal foundations of pretrial services and their practical impact on what we do, therapeutic jurisprudence and the role of pretrial services, to name just a few. The NAPSA Conference is a premier training event that offers excellent training opportunities, which for pretrial practitioners in Illinois is a sparse commodity. Hopefully this will begin to change, as a major item on the Committee’s agenda is to determine pretrial-related training needs and put forth a plan of action that offers pretrial practitioners in Illinois an opportunity to engage in such training.