Improving North Carolina’s Criminal Court Date Notification System

Failures to appear in court (FTAs) are expensive and inconvenient. There is wasted preparation and court time, along with cost and inconvenience for witnesses, jurors, defense lawyers, prosecutors and victims. The defendant may be subject to arrest and possibly pretrial incarceration. Additionally, when an order for arrest issues after a FTA, law enforcement officers are tasked with taking the defendant into custody. And the arrest requires additional court time, both for the required initial appearance before a magistrate and any subsequent bond review proceedings. Partly in response to research showing the effectiveness of court date reminder systems in reducing FTAs, last year the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (NC AOC) rolled out a court date reminder system. The North Carolina system is an “opt in” system, meaning that defendants have to sign up for it (online, here) as opposed to being automatically enrolled. Individuals can choose email or text message reminders. Once subscribed, individuals receive two court date reminders. The first message is sent seven days before the court date; the second is sent one day prior. Email notices look like this: Text reminders look like this: According to the NC AOC, defendants who sign up for reminders also get “[a] near real-time” message “every time a Court Date, Court Room or Session is added or changed.” A sample text message update looks like this: Most people believe that North Carolina’s new court date reminder system is a good thing. But anyone who knows me knows that I’m not [...]