Working with Judges to Reduce Condition Use and Pretrial Caseloads in Harris County, Texas
Stepdown Program
10:30 AM - 11:30 AMFri
22nd Floor - La Vista DEF
Speakers
Hena Rafiq
Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab
Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab
Janey Smith
Division Manager
Harris County Pretrial Services
In Fall 2020, Harris County Pretrial Services (HCPS) in collaboration with the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab (GPL) launched the Incentive-Based Supervision Pilot. The pilot was designed to right-size caseloads by creating a process for clients to have their conditions adjusted (“step-downs”) throughout their supervision period. For this pilot, the GPL and HCPS have been collaborating with criminal court judges to design a system to automatically review clients who demonstrate consistent success on their court-ordered conditions for lighter reporting requirements. The pilot is currently supporting a number of courts rooms in Harris County by providing regular compliance data so that judges can make informed decisions to adjust and/or amend court-ordered conditions (drug testing, electronic/alcohol monitoring, etc.). The pilot program also provides participating judges with quarterly dashboards on pilot progress, safety rate information, cost savings data, client impact data, etc. to ensure judges can track their progress and make adjustments. The pilot continues to improve the effectiveness of pretrial supervision, maintain public safety, reduce the transmission of coronavirus in Harris County, and promote the adoption of evidence-based practices. This session will cover the design of the pilot, learnings from the pilot, examples of dashboards used, and insights into how the GPL and HCPS were able to engage judges on this effort.