NCJ Number
157646
Date Published
1995
Length
79 pages
Annotation
This report describes a pilot program in New Jersey to improve the rate of offender payment of court-ordered fines, restitution, and community service orders and increase performance of court-ordered community service.
Abstract
The Morris County Enforcement Court was initiated in 1991. This experiment addressed noncompliance with financial and community service orders by centralizing the handling of all violations of court orders before one judicial offer in the Superior Court. The court used a single special master and immediately produced significant results. These results were the product of a consistent sanctioning policy toward sentence violators and a unified bench warrant process imposed at a single hearing before a single judicial officer who believed in the need for a firm, fair, and humane enforcement program. The success of the program has encouraged 8-10 other New Jersey jurisdictions to undertake individually designed pilot enforcement programs with varying levels of success. In addition, legislation currently in the final stages of approval authorizes and funds the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts to hire hearing officers to operate standardized enforcement courts throughout the State, patterned on the successful Morris County pilot project. Text of legislation, background information, and forms