In August 2009, CJA introduced its first Supervised Release (SR) program in the Queens County Criminal Court. Based on the success of that program, the City contracted with CJA to develop a similar three-year demonstration project in the New York County (Manhattan) Criminal Court, which was implemented in April 2013 and ended in March 2016. The Manhattan Supervised Release (MSR) program offered judges a pretrial community-based supervision program as an alternative to setting bail at the Criminal Court arraignment in cases arraigned on selected non-violent felony offenses.
CJA conducted a study to assess whether the MSR program had an effect on court outcomes, imprisonment sentences being imposed if convicted, and pretrial misconduct—failure to appear (FTA) and pretrial arrests—for released defendants. It compared the clients to similar defendants not in the program. The research also examined the potential jail displacement effect of community supervision as an alternative to money bail and pretrial detention.