State Sen. Pam Helming joined law enforcement leaders and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman in Gates on Monday to talk about her sponsored bill — the Pretrial Risk Overview for Threat Evaluation, Custody, and Treatment Act, or PROTECT Act.
Helming introduced the bill last year in response to the state’s bail laws after she and some law enforcement officials claimed current state law has led to increased crime involving repeat offenders.
She says it would create a standardized risk assessment tool for judges to use for pre-trial custody decisions.
It applies to Class A misdemeanors and felonies.
Helming has said the standardized form would help judges to make an informed decision when someone is charged with a felony or Class A misdemeanor.
“I feel very strongly that the PROTECT Act balances the rights of the accused with the rights of the victim, and the need to keep our communities safe,” Helming said.
“I think this is good legislation,” Blakeman said. “This is well thought out. This is legislation that wasn’t done in a vacuum. Pam went out, talked to her colleagues, talked to law enforcement professionals, talked to community leaders, talked to religious leaders and came up with something that is good old-fashioned common sense.”
Helming says the legislation provides some safeguards, including: the chance of release being based on risk, not bail amount; custody hearings being completed within 48 hours and assessments being created by the Department of Criminal Justice to reduce bias.
Recently some of last decade’s bail reform laws have been rolled back, giving judges more discretion.
Supporters said the original bail reform prevented low-income people from spending excessive time in jail waiting on their case.
The PROTECT Act currently sits in committee.