Pretrial Services

Pretrial Services

In April of 2022,the San Luis Obispo County Probation Department entered into an agreement with the Superior Court of California, County of San Luis Obispo to provide a Pretrial Services Program in San Luis Obispo County.  As part of this agreement, San Luis Obispo County Probation is performing the following functions:

  • Administer a validated pretrial risk assessment tool to evaluate newly arrested defendants for public safety risk and likelihood of appearing in court; and
  • Gathering information about a defendant’s ability to pay a financial condition of release; and
  • Providing written reports to the Court identifying available release options and including a recommendation for or against continued detention; and
  • Providing recommendations with the least restrictive conditions required to protect the public, protect any victim, and assure appearance of the defendant at future court hearings for those released on pretrial monitoring; and 
  • Providing pretrial supervision for defendants released before trial to ensure they follow court-ordered conditions, protect public safety, and ensure their appearance at future hearings.

Pretrial Risk Assessment 

San Luis Obispo County uses the Public Safety Assessment (PSA) to inform pretrial release decisions.  To increase transparency and in compliance with California Penal Code Section 1320.35, details on the PSA line items, scoring and weighting is provided below.

 

Public Safety Assessment Validation Studies