The Office of the Commonwealth Attorney (OCA) requested review and assessment of its pretrial policies, practices, and data to identify strategies for implementing evidence-based and data-driven policies and practices that prioritize fairness, racial equity, and public safety. The pretrial Justice Assitance Institute completed a phase I assessment June- September 2021.
While the jail population was lowered during 2020 as a result of Arlington County’s COVID response, it has begun to go back to pre-COVID levels. The pretrial services available in the county for people accused of a crime reside within the Sheriff’s office. They believe they are not staffed in such a way that would permit a high caseload on pretrial supervision. The county does have a pretrial risk assessment tool, but there is little agreement around what levels of supervision are appropriate or even necessary. Racial disparity in arrests and bookings, including detention before trial, are an issue. CA Dehghani-Tafti, a former Public Defender who ran on a campaign of progressive change, has already eliminated money bond for many low-level charges. However, the lack of understanding and agreement around alternatives is keeping people detained or, if they are released, under what is agreed to be far too many supervision conditions. VA Commonwealth Attorney (CA) Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, in collaboration with Sheriff Beth Arthur and the Office of the Public Defender Bradly Haywood, would like to work to reduce pretrial detention in Arlington County, but we don’t know how to do it.
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