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Frequently Asked Questions

  • Enhance community safety
  • Foster accountability
  • Nurture participation and inclusiveness of all members of the Association
  • Promote self-care and professional development opportunities to pretrial and local probation professionals
  • Collaborate with key stakeholders to advance the field and champion the adoption of an ideal pretrial system
  • Advocate/Pursue state, federal and other funding to evolve pretrial services and local community-based probation services in Virginia

Anyone can become a member, especially individuals and organizations who work in a criminal justice field. Local pretrial and probation agencies play an integral role in the criminal justice system, promoting change and ensuring accountability for those served. Whether you are looking for evidence-based training and education, or you are looking to help shape the future of criminal justice policy in Virginia, VCCJA looks forward to the opportunity to work with and serve you.

Membership registrations and payments can be made online.

As a non-profit member organization, we pride ourselves on our ability to engage with and serve our members. We offer a number of critical training and education programs to our members, advocate on behalf of our members and field, keep members informed about legislative and policy updates, and provide networking opportunities. Learn more on the Become a Member page of our website or contact us today.

To ensure representation from each part of the Commonwealth, VCCJA is divided into four regions: Northern, Central, Western, Eastern. Each region has a representative on our Executive Committee. Current representatives are:

VCCJA has a variety of committees that support and advance our mission and vision. Learn more about these committees here.

Membership on our committees is open to any VCCJA member. Members volunteer to participate in the committees that best suit their knowledge and skill set. To learn more and/or join, see the “VCCJA Committees” page of our website and contact the committee chair.

Pretrial services agencies, a function of local governments, play an integral role in keeping individuals and communities safe as part of the criminal justice process. PTS agencies conduct investigations and provide crucial information about defendants to judges and magistrates to better inform their decisions about whether persons charged with (but not convicted of) certain offenses and awaiting trial need to be held in jail or can be safely released to their communities with appropriate supervision.

If a judge finds that a defendant is a good candidate for pretrial release, PTS agencies provide essential supervision with the goal of ensuring accountability and promoting growth. This supervision ensures defendants participate in any court-ordered programming or services and that they are present for all required court appearances. PTS reduce failures to appear and enable program participants to evolve and grow in the community while they await trial.

PTS provide our courts the opportunity to release persons charged with (but not convicted of) certain offenses and awaiting trial into their communities with appropriate supervision when it is compatible with public safety. This enables program participants to complete necessary court-ordered programming, and potentially continue to work and provide for their families while they await trial. PTS programs have proven successful in reducing failures to appear.

PTS and monetary bail are separate issues. PTS agencies provide investigations and information about defendants to equip judges and magistrates with the information they need to make a determination about whether someone should be held in jail while they await trial, or whether they can be safely supervised in the community.

PTS agencies provide that supervision and ensure program participants are accountable for all court-ordered programming and court appearances. These services have proven to reduce failures to appear and facilitate participant growth.

As of July 1, 2021, there are 35 Pretrial Services Agencies serving 116 of the 133 localities in Virginia and 37 Local Community-Based Probation Agencies serving all 133 localities in Virginia.

VCCJA’s goal and mission is to ensure every locality has access to comprehensive PTS and probation services.

Local community-based probation agencies were created in Virginia in 1995 by the Comprehensive Community Corrections Act (CCCA, §9.1-173 COV). They were created to provide an alternative to incarceration for persons convicted of certain misdemeanors or non-violent felonies for which sentences would be 12 months or less in a local or regional jail.

Pretrial services agencies are involved with defendants prior to their trial, meaning they have been charged but not convicted of an offense or offenses. Local probation agencies serve individuals who have been convicted or have received a deferred disposition of certain misdemeanors or non-violent felonies for which sentences would be 12 months or less in a local or regional jail.