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Own Recognizance Project
History

Pretrial services began as an experiment by the New York City Bail Project in 1961. As pioneers in the pretrial process, they had hoped to find a way to extend pretrial release opportunities to those whose economic status could not afford bail, with some assurance that those released would be reliable enough to fulfill their obligations to the Court. Through extensive effort they learned that verifying information on a defendant's background, such as community ties and support status, could reasonably predict the likelihood that the defendant would return to court. This information was presented at the 1964 National Conference on Bail and Criminal Justice and, thus pretrial movement begin.

Funded by grants and staffed by volunteers, the San Francisco Bail Project originated in 1964 by initiative of the San Francisco Bar Association's Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice. In its first year, the S.F.O.R. project released 288 people on their own recognizance, and anticipated interviewing 12,000 more for pretrial release consideration over the next year.

Today, the San Francisco Own Recognizance project is a non-profit organization funded by the City and County of San Francisco and by a grant from the Mayor's Criminal Justice Council.

The O.R. Project is a vital community service organization. Implementing this program reduces jail over-crowding, which reduces jail costs and provides space for more serious and violent offenders. Moreover, the O.R. Project serves the community by effectively assisting the Court to select and monitor defendants who can safely be released to the community pending trial. By example of the early efforts of the New York City Bail Project more than 37 years ago, The San Francisco O.R. Project is dedicated to fostering and maintaining a stable and equitable society for everyone.

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