Pretrial Best Practices Project

A Transformative Vision for Minnesota’s Legal System

October 2023 - February 2025

Conversations about the effectiveness and fairness of a cash bail system - a money-based system of detention and release pretrial - have taken place across the country in the past several years, and many states have made significant changes to their pretrial systems.

In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature tasked the MNJRC with studying Minnesota’s pretrial system and identifying ways it could be improved or transformed.

For the last year, the MNJRC team has studied how Minnesota’s criminal legal system operates during the period between arrest or citation for a criminal offense and the resolution of that case. We have conducted legal research; interviewed attorneys, judges, and probation agents; and talked with over 200 community members across the state to hear about their experiences. Core themes emerged in our conversations with community members, including accountability.

Minnesotans do not, for the most part, feel like the legal system is accountable to them or their loved ones, especially during the period of time when a person is considered legally innocent.

By incorporating the feedback of community members into our recommendations, the MNJRC ensures that Minnesota’s criminal legal system is more accountable to the needs and wishes of the people it serves.

We have also studied best practices for pretrial justice across the country. That work included site visits to states that have changed their pretrial systems, like New Jersey and Illinois, alongside cities and counties that have rethought how to provide support during the pretrial period, like New York City and Cass County, Indiana.

We met with attorneys and judges in those places, observed court hearings, and talked with community advocates.

Finally, our research team has reviewed the best research literature available to identify evidence-based practices and conducted legal research to identify how, if at all, Minnesota’s legal system is failing to uphold the state and federal constitutions.

What's Next?

Our team will use all the information we have gathered to propose changes to Minnesota’s pretrial system. Our recommendations have the potential to radically transform the way that justice is done in this state.

Rather than 3-minute bail hearings with little evidence or argument, we could require that any person detained have a full and fair hearing first. Instead of punishing people for struggling during the pretrial period, we could provide support services to help them be successful and reach a fair resolution. Recommendations like this will move Minnesota’s pretrial system towards justice.