State v. Watkins

The primary purpose of Pretrial Intervention (PTI) is to assist in the rehabilitation of worthy defendants, and, in the process, to spare them the rigors of the criminal justice system. Eligibility is broad and includes all defendants who demonstrate the will to effect necessary behavioral change such that society can have confidence that they will not engage in future criminality. N.J.S.A. 2C:43-12e. However, all defendants are not worthy candidates. Indeed, those who have committed serious and heinous crimes are generally recognized as problematic from a rehabilitation standpoint. Thus, the…