Business Not as Usual for Civil Defendants in Pretrial Release Services Program

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

In 2012, New Hanover County Community Justice Services Pretrial Release Services Program conducted a comprehensive study of pretrial programs in North Carolina to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of its program. Findings showed New Hanover County was the only county with a full-service contract for electronic monitoring (EM) services, which included salaries for full time EM staff with annual costs of $384,000. In all other NC county’s, program staff conducted monitoring of defendants, responded to all violations and handled equipment issues. In 2013, New Hanover County, with the largest caseload of civil defendants on EM, implemented a new Business and Services model to help streamline services while reducing expenditures. The model eliminated the full-time contracted EM positions and the related overhead and programming costs. Instead, one full-time, in-house county funded position was created to monitor and supervise EM participants. The result was an estimated net savings of $150,000 annually. Collaborative efforts with the Department of Social Services, Child Support Services Agency, and consultation with the Chief District Court Judge produced an incentive-based approach to monitoring and supervision. As a result, successful completion of pretrial supervision for the civil participants improved from 57% in FY14 to 79% in FY15.