NCJ Number
77378
Date Published
1981
Length
225 pages
Annotation
The first of two volumes on misdemeanor courts and their management problems, this report describes experiments to develop the Community Resources Program (CRP) located in Tacoma, Wash., and Austin, Tex., and to implement the manual case management information system (CMIS) in Mankato, Minn., and Corpus Christi, Tex.
Abstract
The volume is directed particularly to misdemeanor court practitioners, including judges, administrators, clerks, and probation officers. The CMIS program provides management assistance to small city and rural area misdemeanor courts by (1) developing management policies, including case progress and disposition time standards; (2) integrating and coordinating scheduling and calendaring practices; and (3) providing basic case information through the use of a simple manual recordkeeping system that enables court personnel to monitor case progress and evaluate the effectiveness of their management policies. The CRP, on the other hand, was designed for medium-size courts in urban areas and seeks to use more fully existing community resources, broaden probation services, and provide the court with mechanisms to develop previously unavailable resources. Its four active components include a citizen advisory board (CAB), community resources brokerage (CRB), community service restitution (CSR), and expanded volunteer service (EVS). With the exception of the CAB, none of these components is novel. Collectively, however, they represent a comprehensive approach to expanded utilization of community resources by the court. The report considers misdemeanor court problems and innovations, describes the design and implementation of the CMIS and the CRP, and comments on various aspects of the design and implementation of these programs that should interest courts and probation agencies wishing to adopt or adapt a replication of these approaches. The attempt to use the CRP in Tacoma, Wash., met with mixed results, while in Austin, Tex., only the citizen advisory board was successfully adopted. The tests of the CMIS, developed for use in small courts (fewer than 3 judges, caseloads of less than 25,000 cases annually) were generally favorable, and the system is still being used by the test sites. Footnotes, tables, and figures are included. Project survey instruments and results, related data, and a bibliography of approximately 200 references are appended. For the second volume of this report, see NCJ 77379. (Author abstract modified)