The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office has compiled statistics for the first nine months of the 2017 calendar year relating to the Bail Reform and Speedy Trial Act that went into effect at the start of 2017.
This new law represents one of the most dramatic changes to the criminal justice system in many years.
Under the new law, New Jersey shifted from a system that relied principally on monetary bail, to a risk-based system that assesses a defendant’s risk of flight and dangerousness to the community. Additionally, defendants have a right to a speedy trial under the new law. As a result of the new law, trials have gone to court in a more expeditious manner, much quicker than before.
Under the new system, from Jan. 1, when the law went into effect, through the end of September, there have been 3,315 complaint warrants issued in Monmouth County on 2,383 defendants. There have also been 3,661 charges placed on summonses rather than complaint warrants since Jan. 1.
The Office has filed for detention on 489 defendants and 225 defendants have been detained by the court. To date, 30 defendants were released on conditions with Prosecutor’s Office consent after withdrawing motions to detain. There were 198 defendants released on pretrial conditions over the Office’s objection.
At this time, 55 defendants have had violations of conditions filed against them which could result in pretrial detention or increased pretrial release conditions at a later court date.
The next statistical release will be available in early January when a full year’s accounting of the new reform measures in Monmouth County will be offered.
— Press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office
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