in the new system caposela helped devise, judges and attorneys now rely on a public safety assessment, or p.s.a., to predict the risk a defendant poses. a computer algorithm evaluates nine risk factors, like whether defendants have prior violent convictions or failures to appear in court. john harrison oversees the new pretrial services program for passaic county. >> now, if someone fails to appear in the last two years, it goes up. >> reporter: defendants receive two scores, from one to six. >> she results as a five, four. >> reporter: the scores predict the likelihood the defendant will fail to appear and commit new criminal activity. the lower the scores, the better the chance the p.s.a. will recommend the defendant be released. >> all rise. >> reporter: later, when the defendant appears in county court-- in this case, by video from jail-- the judge uses the p.s.a. score to decide how she'll be monitored after release. >> you have to report one time per week to pretrial services. once by... one week by phone, one week in person. >> reporter: if there's a serious crime or a high p.s