Samantha A Zottola

Dados Biográficos

ID6624276
NOMESamantha A Zottola
PRENOMESSamantha A
SOBRENOMEZottola
ASSINATURAZOTTOLA S A
AFILIAÇÕESPolicy Research Associates
ORCID0000-0001-6736-8887
VERIFICADOSim
TOTAL DE OBRAS9
TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES0
TOTAL COMO AUTOR9
TOTAL COMO EDITOR0
PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO2020
ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO2025
ÍNDICE H0

  • Public opinion about judicial roles and considerations

    Sarah L Desmarai, Samantha A Zottola et al.ARTICLELaw and Human Behavior2025

    OBJECTIVE: To inform policies and practices that reflect the values and expectations of the communities that judges serve, we fielded a national survey of public perceptions regarding judicial roles and factors that could be considered in decision making. HYPOTHESES: We had four questions: (1) What is public opinion on the importance of various judicial roles and considerations? (2) Can distinct groups of respondents be identified on the basis of…

  • Predictive bias in pretrial risk assessment

    Samantha A Zottola, Kamiya Stewart et al.ARTICLELaw and Human Behavior2024

    OBJECTIVE: Native Americans are vastly overrepresented in U.S. jails and people in rural communities face unique barriers (e.g., limited public transportation and services) that may impact how well pretrial risk assessments predict outcomes. Yet, these populations are understudied in the literature examining the predictive validity and, more importantly, the potential predictive bias of pretrial risk assessments. We sought to address these gaps. …

  • Indigent Injustice

    Open AccessSarah Clarke, Samantha A Zottola et al.ARTICLECritical Criminology2024

  • Pretrial Risk Assessment, Release Recommendations, and Racial Bias

    Open AccessSamantha A Zottola, Sarah L Desmarai et al.ARTICLECriminal Justice and Behavior2023

    We examined how the presentation of risk assessment results and the race of the person charged affected pretrial court actors’ recommendations to release a person with or without conditions. A sample of 246 pretrial court actors read vignettes that varied risk framing (success, failure), risk format (probability, frequency), risk level (low, high), and race of the person charged (Black, White). Pretrial release recommendations did not differ as a…

  • Comparing the relationships between money bail, pretrial risk scores, and pretrial outcomes

    Samantha A Zottola, Sarah L DesmaraiARTICLELaw and Human Behavior2022

    OBJECTIVES: There has been much discussion around the use of both money bail and pretrial risk assessment instruments. We examine how bail and risk scores compare in terms of their associations with failure to appear in court and rearrest during the pretrial period. HYPOTHESES: Our research questions included whether bail and risk scores differed between people who did and did not experience pretrial outcomes and whether pretrial scores were asso…

  • Evaluating Fairness of Algorithmic Risk Assessment Instruments

    Open AccessSamantha A Zottola, Sarah L Desmarai et al.ARTICLECriminal Justice and Behavior2022

    Researchers and stakeholders have developed many definitions to evaluate whether algorithmic pretrial risk assessment instruments are fair in terms of their error and accuracy. Error and accuracy are often operationalized using three sets of indicators: false-positive and false-negative percentages, false-positive and false-negative rates, and positive and negative predictive value. To calculate these indicators, a threshold must be set, and cont…

  • Court date reminders reduce court nonappearance

    Open AccessSamantha A Zottola, William Crozier et al.ARTICLECriminology & Public Policy2022

    Research summary We conducted a systematic review and meta‐analysis of studies that examined whether providing people with a postcard, phone call, or text message reminder of their court date reduces their likelihood of failing to appear in court. We included 12 studies ( N = 79,255) that compared court appearance rates between groups of people who received a reminder to groups who did not receive a reminder. Results showed that reminders signifi…

  • Predictive Validity of Pretrial Risk Assessments

    Open AccessSarah L Desmarai, Samantha A Zottola et al.ARTICLECriminal Justice and Behavior2021

    Bail reform is sweeping the nation and many jurisdictions are looking to pretrial risk assessment as one potential strategy to support these efforts. This article summarizes the findings of a systematic review of research examining the predictive validity of pretrial risk assessments. We reviewed 11 studies (13 publications) examining the predictive validity of six pretrial risk assessment instruments reported in the gray and peer-reviewed litera…

  • A Qualitative Analysis of Drivers among Military-Affiliated and Civilian Lone Actor Terrorists Inspired by Jihadism

    Alexa Katon, Christine Shahan Brugh et al.ARTICLEStudies in Conflict and Terrorism2020

    This qualitative study explored and compared factors that drive individuals with and without military experience to commit violent acts of terrorism within a sample of 10 jihadism-inspired lone actors. Findings reveal four major themes driving violent terrorist action among lone actors: Action, Grievance, Growing in Jihad, Religious Fervor. Results also provide some of the first evidence that drivers of lone actor terrorism differ between those w…