Atlantic County topped the state in the percentage of eligible defendants held pretrial last year, according to the recently released Criminal Justice Reform statistics.
The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office also filed the highest percentage of motions to detain eligible defendants with 77.7%, Prosecutor William Reynolds announced Tuesday. That is more than 1.8 times the state average of 42.8%.
The data released by the state Judiciary looks at how counties are handling pretrial detention under bail reform, which replaced monetary bail in 2017 with a risk-based system.
Under the reform, defendants are charged either on summonses or warrants. Those charged on warrants are jailed pending an appearance in central judicial processing, or CJP court, where they then learn if they will be released or the prosecutor’s office has filed a motion to have them kept in jail pretrial.
If a detention motion is filed, a hearing is held days later, when a judge decides whether to grant the state’s motion or release the defendant under certain conditions.
The judge also considers the recommendation of the public safety assessment, which assigns each defendant two numbers on a scale of 1 to 6 based on failure to appear in court and likelihood to offend while on release.
Atlantic County had 1,549 defendants eligible for pretrial detention, with 46.1% of those kept in jail, or 714 inmates. That is more than double the statewide detention rate of 21.1%.
Reynolds attributed this to Atlantic County’s commitment to public safety and the responsible use of prosecutorial discretion under the state’s bail reform system.
“These results show that Atlantic County is leading the way in protecting our communities,” he said. “We are making sure that individuals who pose a significant risk are being appropriately detained while balancing the rights of the accused. Our goal has always been — and will continue to be — ensuring a safer Atlantic County for all residents.”
When looking at just numbers, Atlantic County was 11th in warrants with 1,549 issued last year.
Residents often have taken issue with how many defendants are released on summonses, never making it to the jail.
The statewide, 55.3% of the 83,183 defendants arrested are released on summonses.
Sussex County tops that with 74.6% of those arrested never making it to jail.
Essex County, which has the most defendants at 10,130, issues the lowest percentage of summonses at 34.6%.
Atlantic County released nearly 66.1% of its 4,567 total defendants on summonses in 2024, the third highest percentage in the state.
Bringing summonses into the detention numbers can muddle the picture, since those often include things like disorderly persons offenses, non-violent crimes and even cases that will be sent to municipal court.
In some cases, it can be the decision of the arresting agency or a query to the assistant county prosecutor on duty.
But even with the high percentage of summonses issued statewide, Atlantic County still had the third-highest percentage of detentions for all defendants, at 15.6%. That is more than 1.5 times the state average of 9.4%.
Only Cape May County at 17.2% and Cumberland County at 16.1% were higher.
Atlantic County’s prosecutor credited his office’s specialized Pretrial Services Unit, strong partnerships with local law enforcement, and a focus on risk assessment tools to achieve these outcomes.
“Public safety remains our top priority,” Reynolds said. “We will continue to advocate for detention where warranted to protect victims, witnesses and the integrity of the judicial process.”
