Low/Moderate Risk Policy Change White Paper

In March 2020, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts – Probation and Pretrial Services Office (PPSO) enacted a temporary change to its supervision practices in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This change expanded the population eligible to be supervised under the low-risk supervision standards (LRSS), which require less monitoring and fewer restrictions and interventions compared to persons on regular supervision. This report constitutes a White Paper that details the policy change with particular emphasis on the extent to which the federal supervision system’s practices changed in response to this reform  and the COVID-19 pandemic.