A Simple Idea for Reducing FTAs on Summonses: Redesign the Form

In a series of posts I’ve been discussing bail reform in North Carolina and various options to reduce pretrial detentions that do more harm than good. Some of the solutions are tough and complicated. Here I offer one potential solution that’s neither hard nor complex: Redesign the Criminal Summons form. In North Carolina, one of the ways that defendants are charged with criminal offenses is with the Criminal Summons. See generally G.S. 15A-303 (criminal summons). The Criminal Summons is issued upon a finding of probable cause. Id. at -303(c). The Summons doesn’t authorize the defendant to be taken into custody, rather it orders the person to appear in court to answer the charges. Id. at -303(a) & (d). If the defendant doesn’t show up as required, we call this a failure to appear or FTA for short. The court can respond to a FTA by issuing an order for arrest (OFA). Id. at -303(e)(2). As its name implies, the OFA results in an arrest. G.S. 15A-305(a). As with all arrests, the defendant must be taken before a judicial official without unnecessary delay for an initial appearance, where a judicial official determines conditions of pretrial release. See G.S. 15A-511. If the judge who issued the OFA doesn’t recommend conditions of release, the FTA requires the judicial official conducting the initial appearance to set a minimum $1000 secured bond. G.S. 15A-534(d1). As I discussed in my previous post on bail reform, that secured bond can lead to wealth-based detentions. When those wealth-based detentions [...]