A group of criminologists and law professors has challenged a new report by the Pretrial Justice Institute that says pretrial risk assessment instruments used by many judges to help determine which defendants should be released while their cases are pending are dangerous and have unintended consequences. Risk assessment tools “can support the effectiveness of other reform efforts,” contends the group, led by James Austin of the JFA Institute, Sarah Desmarais of North Carolina State University and University of Virginia law Prof. John Monahan.