How many jurisdictions use each tool?

National Tools

The most common national pretrial RATs from our research are:

Tool	In use in at least these jurisdictions	Population potentially impacted
PSA	5 states + 59 counties	56.3 million people
VPRAI	43 counties	19.9 million people
VPRAI-R	1 state + 16 counties	14.3 million people
ORAS-PAT	5 states + 48 counties	31.4 million people
COMPAS	11 counties	4.3 million people

State tools

Our research found 11 states with state-developed tools, not including Virginia’s use of the VPRAI-R and Ohio’s use of the ORAS-PAT, which are included above as national tools since these tools are used by jurisdictions across the country.

We found that Alaska¹, Connecticut,² Delaware,³ and Nevada⁴ use unique tools developed for their states specifically, and each of these tools is implemented statewide.

In Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington, tools were developed for state use, but not all counties have chosen to utilize that specific tool. According to our research, in Colorado, 22 counties use the Colorado Pretrial Assessment Tool (CPAT), two counties use the Arapahoe County Pretrial Risk Assessment, and the remaining 40 counties do not appear to use a tool. Colorado may be moving towards statewide use of the CPAT in 2020, however.

Florida developed the Florida Pretrial Risk Assessment Instrument (FPRAI)⁵, which is currently in use in nine counties but will be extended to five more counties after the current round of validation.⁶ Michigan is piloting multiple tools, including the PSA in some counties and the Michigan PRAXIS in others.⁷ Michigan is also studying the issue of pretrial punishment further, and Michigan governor’s task force on pretrial incarceration released a report in January 2020 giving recommendations about reducing pretrial detention.⁸

Oregon’s Public Safety Checklist (PSC)⁹ and Washington’s Adult Static Risk Assessment (ASRA)¹⁰ are both state-developed tools that can be used in various stages of the criminal legal process, from pretrial to probation. At least three counties in Oregon use the PSC and at least four counties in Washington use the ASRA for pretrial decision-making. Maryland’s most common tool was developed in Montgomery County, and seven other counties have adopted this tool as well.¹¹

Local Tools

Our research found 49 counties across 22 states using a locally-developed or otherwise county-specific tools.

Many of these were created by and for particular counties, based on their own populations and needs. Johnson, Douglas, and Saline Counties in Kansas as well as Davidson and Knox Counties in Tennessee all created tools specific to their particular populations.¹²

Some locality-specific tools were created for one county or state and adopted by another county. For example, the Allegheny Risk Assessment Instrument Profile, developed in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, was adopted by two other Pennsylvania counties.¹³ Bonneville County, Idaho, and Strafford County, New Hampshire, both use versions of the Colorado Pretrial Assessment Tool.¹⁴ Kershaw County, South Carolina, and Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, both use the Kentucky Pretrial Risk Assessment,¹⁵ a tool Kentucky developed before switching to the PSA in 2013.

Several counties have modified national tools to fit with their particular localities, though they may or may not have validated the modified versions on their populations. Many counties have modified the VPRAI, in particular. For instance, Riverside County, California, uses a locally modified version of the VPRAI, called the Riverside Pretrial Risk Assessment Instrument.¹⁶

Some counties use other national tools in their pretrial systems, such as the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) and the Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI), which are post-adjudication tools not developed for pretrial use.¹⁷

Over 60% of the US population lives in a jurisdiction that uses a RAT — Movement Alliance Project generated, based on our research