The Illinois Office of Statewide Pretrial Services promotes pretrial justice and community safety by providing support services to defendants and serving as a neutral party to furnish information to the court from pretrial investigations and supervision.
Pretrial Investigations
OSPS staff conduct investigations to help inform judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys about a defendant as the court decides what, if any, supervision requirements to impose or, in certain circumstances, whether to detain a defendant as their criminal case progresses.
OSPS gathers the defendant’s criminal history, interviews the defendant regarding socio-economic factors (employment, housing, etc.) and completes a pretrial assessment. For domestic violence related cases, a specialized assessment is completed.
The Investigation Reports are filed with the court clerk and disseminated to the judge, prosecutor and defense counsel in advance of the defendant’s initial hearing.
Pretrial Supervision
A defendant may be ordered to pretrial supervision. In those cases, OSPS monitors whether a defendant follows court orders and attends court hearings.
OSPS provides court date reminders to defendants and a criminal background check to the court in advance of new court hearings. OSPS also provides reports to the court regarding supervision compliance, including required check-ins, drug testing, GPS Monitoring or Alcohol Monitoring, etc.
The judge determines the specific requirements of a defendant’s pretrial supervision.
Support Services
OSPS helps the defendant address barriers to complying with their supervision and improve overall wellbeing. OSPS provides defendants personal care kits, overdose prevention kits, transportation assistance and social service referrals when appropriate.
In partnership with Partners for Justice, OSPS also supports advocates embedded within public defender offices in select counties.
OSPS provides these Pretrial Services in 82 of Illinois’ 102 counties. Under statute (725 ILCS 185), OSPS is also responsible for reimbursing local jurisdictions for approved pretrial positions in the state’s other 20 counties.