The PTSAT assesses the procedures, legal  framework and practices relating to  deprivation of liberty at the pretrial stage, from the moment an individual is deprived  of liberty until the time that individual  reaches the trial phase, including an  assessment of the framework and practice  for imposing non-custodial measures at the  pretrial stage. The tool examines both the de jure legislative and procedural framework for pretrial detention and the de facto practices under which pretrial detention is imposed. It draws on international and regional laws, norms, and  best practices concerning pretrial  detention, evaluating a country’s pretrial  detention regime vis-à-vis six factors reflecting distinct critical issues and stages of the pre-trial detention process.

New-Rule completed the quantitative data collection for the Pre-Trial Services Assessment in the first quarter of 2021. The data collected includes information on defendant case flow, the extent to which an activity affects remand, bail, pre-trial case flow, and defendant legal  representation. The findings will inform criminal justice reforms in line with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and provide suggestions for new approaches to improving pre-trial detainees’ services that could be piloted in the Federal Capital Territory. New-Rule is now engaged in training enumerators for qualitative data collection through key informant interviews of justice sector stakeholders including former detainees, judges, civil society organizations and media representatives, human rights commission, and lawyers. 

The interviews are hoped to take place between May to August, with the goal of collecting 50 interviews by September. As the data collection ends, the analysis will continue until November by which the final review process of the report will take place. The final PTSA report is expected to be published at the end of 2021.