Law Report speaks to the flawed pretrial detention system in the United States  all while alluding to the rising algorithmic tools in the Criminal justice system as a means of solution based policy. These algorithms seek to reform existing methods of pretrial release by lowering crime rates and reducing jail populations while enhancing judicial efficiency in the process. The algorithm approach opposes the traditional “Bail schedules,” which standardizes monetary amounts of bail “based on the offense charged, regardless of the characteristics of an individual have been used historically in the system”. The author of the law report under UNC law calls for actuarial methods—statistical models and software programs— designed to help judges and prosecutors assess the risk of criminal offenders. In addition, an algorithmic system promotes non-discriminatory procedural tools, ensuring constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process remain intact however there are critiques around the need to eliminate bias around race in these algorithms in order for them to successfully integrate itself in the Criminal Justice system. This is combined with the report focusing on outside monetary “community-based supervision strategies” to lower recidivism, allow for more resources devoted to public safety, and reduce racial disparity in the process.

The North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology is a student-published law journal of the University of North Carolina School of Law. The journal's mission is to provide legal scholarship focusing on the many intersections between law and technology.

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^{Keywords: Risk Assessment, Technology, Algorithm, pretrial detention, race, community based strategy}

• Evidence-Based Practices