Montana Courts refresher trains judges, attorneys and case managers on PSA use, data and pretrial best practices

Helena — Montana Courts and the Office of Court Administrator convened a statewide refresher session on the Public Safety Assessment (PSA) and pretrial practices to update judges, prosecutors, public defenders and case managers on current research, data and operational guidance.

“Across the country…we have 3 main goals of pretrial decision making,” trainer Dr. Mike Jones told participants, summarizing the framework as the three “M”s: “maximize court appearance,” “maximize public safety and law‑abiding behavior” and “maximize pretrial release and liberty and minimize detention.”

The training outlined Montana outcomes from a weighted sample of five counties: roughly 76% average court‑appearance, about 68% arrest‑free during pretrial release and an approximate 70% pretrial release rate. Jones said most new arrests while on pretrial release were nonviolent, and he urged decision‑makers to accelerate release decisions when appropriate because research indicates even brief detention can worsen later outcomes.

OCA administrator Dave McAlpin described recent budget uncertainty and the work that restored the program to permanent, ongoing funding. “Lewis and Clark County…consider the program to save them $48,000 a day in the cost of incarceration,” McAlpin said, citing local fiscal estimates.

Jones reviewed how actuarial tools such as the PSA differ from subjective judgment. The PSA produces three outputs — failure to appear (FTA), new criminal activity (NCA) and a new violent criminal arrest (NVCA) flag — and the tool’s nine factors are weighted differently for each outcome. Jones emphasized that the PSA is predictive, not prescriptive: “the PSA does not ever tell us what to do,” he said; it is designed to inform consistent, transparent decisions.

OCA processors now append Montana‑specific outcome percentages to PSA reports. Jones used a sample mapping to explain the numbers: an FTA score of 6 in Montana corresponds to about a 65% chance of appearing in court, meaning roughly 35% did not. He also cautioned against overreacting to the NVCA flag: in Montana data, about 9 of 10 people with the flag were not arrested for a new violent offense during pretrial release.

The session summarized evidence on common interventions. Jones said behaviorally designed court‑date reminders are high value and low cost and consistently improve appearance rates. Pretrial services and case‑manager check‑ins increase appearance but have limited evidence of reducing re‑arrest; drug and alcohol testing and electronic location monitoring often surface technical violations without clear improvements in arrest or appearance outcomes; and secured financial conditions (money bail) have not reliably improved court appearance or public safety in the research Jones reviewed.

Montana’s pretrial release guide (matrix) maps PSA outputs to presumptive release levels (1–3) and the OCA recommended using the matrix as a starting point for individualized decisions. Jones urged practitioners to “give the medicine to the sick people, not to the healthy people,” meaning supervision and intrusive conditions should be targeted to those whose assessed risk and life circumstances indicate real need.

Participants discussed updating Montana baselines and revalidating outcome percentages; OCA staff said they plan to review and update the state mappings. Staff also noted OCA has completed more than 40,000 PSAs and runs ongoing audits to maintain scoring fidelity.

The meeting closed with a brief Q&A, including a question about automated reminder systems. Jones confirmed automated, well‑designed court reminders can reduce FTAs and recommended jurisdictions consider low‑cost reminder systems.

The training packet included the statutory citation provided in materials (recorded in the session as “3‑1‑708”), the state pretrial release guide, and references to the O’Donnell decision and national evidence syntheses cited during the presentation. CLE information and the meeting packet were posted in the chat.