Irving Texas work “in recent years to improve its municipal court’s Failure to Appear (FTA) rate shows what is possible when cities invest in foundational data practices and use data-driven evaluations to test and fine-tune new approaches.”
The article posted in Medium.com WhatWorksCity subsite explains why Irving focused on this problem.
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“A high FTA rate is problematic for multiple reasons. It costs the City money and staff time to process additional paperwork. Those taxpayer dollars could be better used to support other city services. And then there are the negative impacts on defendants, which can spiral. Receiving an FTA can lead to the issuance of an arrest warrant and potential related fees, and contact from a collection agency if fees are not paid promptly.”
To address this the “team took a cue from doctors’ offices
that call patients with appointment reminders. The City’s court staff began
reminding residents a few weeks ahead of any scheduled court date, and then
again just days ahead. Staff placed the calls, which gave the City an
opportunity to humanize the criminal justice system and reduce many residents’
fear of court.”
The article then describes the “scientific” development of
writing and editing the reminder scripts they sent to the public. And the “also tried an entirely new approach
to obviate the need for residents to ever appear at a hearing. Court staff
began working with prosecutors to prepare and make plea offers over the phone
ahead of a hearing. If a resident accepted the terms, a scheduled hearing could
be canceled.”
As a result, the court reduced FTA’s from over 28 percent to less
than 1 percent.
The article provides a great deal of additional
information on not just the technology but also the organization support effort made by the court. It is well worth the read.
More articles and about What Works Cities can be found at: https://whatworkscities.medium.com/
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