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Description
The use of actuarial risk assessment instruments in pretrial practice, as a component of bail reform writ large, is spreading rapidly across the country. Maine has not yet joined the states enacting bail reforms to prevent unnecessary pretrial detention, but it has passed statutes requiring the use of risk assessments in domestic violence cases. In my research, I analyze and contrast Kentucky's and New Jersey's respective implementations of risk assessment instruments, and describe how lessons from those states might inform Maine's current domestic violence bail practices as well as best practices for any future bail reform.