Bail 2 GO has automated email, text, and phone calls to all clients. Our motto is to just make it simple and everyone wins. Here’s a case study that shows the effect on automated court notifications.
When defendants fail to appear (FTA) for scheduled court appearances, extra work is placed on court, law enforcement, jail resources and Bail Bond Agencies. The courts must issue a warrant for defendants that fail to appear, law enforcement must arrest or ticket a person who has a warrant due to failing to appear, and the jail must house these defendants when they are arrested on their warrants. Reducing the failure to appear rate is an important way to prevent unnecessary use of these resources.
In 2006, a pilot program calling County Court defendants to remind them of their court dates in order to prevent FTA’s. Once the project got up and running, the phone call reminders began to show a significant impact in reducing FTA’s. The preliminary results were positive: defendants who were contacted had a 12% lower FTA rate than defendants who were not contacted.
Since the the program has expanded and more calls are being made to County Court and District Court defendants. In the last year, 7,664 calls were made in County Court and the FTA rate is cut in half when a defendant is contacted from 21.4% to 9.9%. Also, 3,251 calls were made in District Court in the last year and the FTA rate is cut by two-thirds when a defendant is contacted, from 9.0% to 3.5%.
Reduction of FTA’s has system-wide resource savings while making sure the defendant does not incur a Failure to appear. Court staff, municipal law enforcement, and Sheriff’s Office staff save resources.
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