- Massachusetts Probation Service
Media Contact for New Text Messaging reminder system for court users is now available across the Commonwealth
Coria Holland, Communications Director
This new text messaging system originally was designed to reduce the number of warrants issued for “failure to appear” and reduce unnecessary pretrial detention. This week, the Probate & Family Court and Juvenile Court introduced the reminder system in all divisions, and the Housing Court began a rollout to all of its divisions. The system sends text reminders to participants four days and 12-hour prior to a scheduled court event.
The system was introduced in November throughout the Boston Municipal, District and Superior Courts and more than 40,000 text messages have been sent and have reduced the failure to appear rate.
Roughly 35 percent of defendants nationwide fail to appear for court dates which can lead to further court involvement or jail time, according to Deputy Commissioner Pamerson Ifill who oversees the Massachusetts Probation Service’s Pretrial Probation Services Division. In the Bay State, 12.6 percent of defendants fail to show up.
“The impact a warrant can have in terms of people being held and detained—even if it is short term— can be disruptive to family, employment, and have that rolling effect that can have a significant impact on people’s lives. It’s a huge move for us here in the Massachusetts Court system. Despite the fact that we don’t have a huge failure to show rate, we still do have pockets,” Deputy Ifill said.
On any given day, there are some 19,000 criminal defendants under pretrial supervision in the Commonwealth. The Massachusetts Probation Service in collaboration with the Trial Court’s Judicial Information Services Department (JISD) was tasked with developing this text notification system as part of the 2018 Criminal Justice Reform passed by the state legislature. Probation also coordinated with the court’s Translation Services to provide texts in the most common languages spoken by court users: Cape Verdean Creole, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Russian. Probationers, who opt to receive the eReminder text reminders, may receive text messages four days before and 12 hours before their upcoming court date.