Expand Court Reminder Program

Support SB22-18

✔ Improve court appearance rates.

✔ Save time and money for sheriffs, courts, and police.

✔ Avoid filling our jails with people who simply missed a court date.

THE ISSUE: Costly Missed Court Appearances

Missed court appearances are costly for courts, sheriffs, police, crime survivors and people accused of crimes. Court reminders are the only evidence-based method of improving court appearance rates. The Colorado legislature unanimously passed SB19-036 to create a statewide court text reminder program but, because the program is opt-in, it has a usage rate of only 1%

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THE SOLUTION: SB22-18

SB22-18 will transform Colorado’s court text reminder program from an opt-in system to an opt-out system, providing:

Text message court reminders for all people accused of a crime, unless and until they opt-out of the program.
A link to virtual court appearances when designated by the court.
A 3 year working group to assess the program and recommend changes to improve effectiveness (with proposed amendment).

Expected usage rates of the program: 50-75%.

Background

Missed court appearances are costly.

Arresting and jailing people for missing court (also known as an FTA) costs taxpayers as much as $2,000 per FTA; money that could be saved with a simple court reminder.
Law enforcement resources should be reserved for people who pose a safety risk, not for people who simply missed court.

Missed court appearances are harmful.

People are frequently jailed for simply missing a court date, often for a minor offense. Jefferson County reported 25% of their jail population is incarcerated for FTA on low level offense.

Short jail stays for a non-criminal FTA can have devastating consequences - lost jobs, lost housing, lost custody of children.
Missed court appearances harm and stress crime survivors, for whom justice is delayed.

Court reminders work.

Studies show people most often miss court for innocuous reasons, such as job obligations, childcare, transportation or forgetfulness. Court reminders are the only evidence-based method proven to improve court appearance rates.

A study in Jefferson County found that successfully contacting defendants a week prior to their court date decreased FTA rate from 29% to 8%.
Douglas County’s court reminder program decreased FTA rate by 50%.
A study in New York City found that the introduction of text notifications decreased the FTA rate by 21%.

Opt-out programs work best.

Opt-out programs dramatically increase participation in court reminder programs vs. opt-in programs.

One large study of the opt-out court reminder program in the 4th Judicial District in Minnesota showed 98% of defendants stayed opted-in to the program.