Fill the Gap 2012

              Fill The Gap
Annual Report
2012
Court Services Division
Administrative Office of the Courts
Arizona Supreme Court
December 2012
-1-
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 2
Case Processing Standards .................................................................................... 2
Funding Sources ..................................................................................................... 3
County Project Overview ......................................................................................... 3
Collections Efforts ................................................................................................. 11
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 11
-2-
ARIZONA SUPREME COURT
FILL THE GAP
ANNUAL REPORT
2012
CRIMINAL CASE REENGINEERING
Introduction
Pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-102.01 (D), the Supreme Court reports annually “to the
governor, the legislature, each county board of supervisors, the Joint Legislative Budget
Committee and the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission on the progress of criminal
case processing projects and the enforcement of court orders, including the collection of
court ordered fees, fines, penalties, sanctions and forfeitures.” Arizona Revised
Statutes § 12-102.02 (D) also requires the Supreme Court to report annually on the
expenditure of fund monies for the prior fiscal year and the progress made in improving
criminal case processing.
Historically , federal, state and local governments made substantial investments in
placing more police officers on the street and building more prisons. These efforts
sought to increase public safety, but also created a backlog in the rest of the criminal
justice system. In essence, funding targeted the front and back of the criminal justice
system, creating a “gap”. Funding for those entities in the “gap” did not keep pace. The
Fill the Gap initiative was intended to address this problem. In 1997, the Administrative
Office of the Courts (AOC) convened a work group of stakeholders (superior court, clerk
of superior court, justice courts, county attorney, public defender and indigent defense
counsel) in the criminal justice system to develop a strategy to secure funding from the
legislature to fund the "gap." The funding that resulted from this initiative continues to
aid in the progress of accomplishing a number of improvements in criminal case
processing throughout Arizona.
Case Processing Standards
Rule 8.2, Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure, effective December 1, 2002 establishes
timelines for processing criminal cases as follows: 1) For in-custody defendants, the
time to disposition is within 150 days from the date of arraignment; 2) For out-of-custody
defendants, the time to disposition is within 180 days from the date of arraignment; 3) If
the case is categorized as complex, time to disposition is within 270 days from
arraignment; and 4) For defendants charged with first degree murder in which the state
has filed an intent to seek the death penalty, time to disposition is within 18 months
from arraignment.
-3-
Funding Sources
Arizona Revised Statutes § 41-2421, enacted in 1999, created three main funding
sources for Fill the Gap efforts: a general fund appropriation; a seven percent Fill the
Gap surcharge; and a five percent set-aside of funds retained by local courts when
revenues exceed the 1998 benchmark. It should be noted that counties with populations
exceeding 500,000 (Maricopa and Pima) have not been eligible for general fund
appropriations since fiscal year 2005 as directed by legislation. During the 2008 fiscal
year, the general fund appropriation was reduced from $418,500 to $150,000. In fiscal
year 2009 the general fund appropriation was eliminated as directed by legislation.
The 7% surcharge earmarked for the courts is deposited in the State Aid to the Courts
Fund pursuant to A.R.S. § 12-102.02, and administered by the AOC. The five percent
set-aside of funds collected by the courts is kept and administered locally for local court
use.
The Fill the Gap expenditures for fiscal year 2011 included $2,649,631 from the State
Aid to the Courts Fund. This money was disbursed to the counties that were approved
for Fill the Gap. In addition, during fiscal year 2011, the Legislature swept $52,500 from
the balance within the State Aid to the Courts Fund.
County Project Overview
As defined by statute, the purpose of the State Aid to the Courts Fund is to provide state
aid to the superior court, including the clerk of the superior court and the justice courts
in each county for the processing of criminal cases.
Within each county the presiding judge of the superior court, the clerk of the court and
the presiding justice of the peace must develop a plan, in coordination with the
chairman of the county board of supervisors or their designee that is submitted to the
AOC. The proposed plan details how the funds will be used, how the plan will assist the
county in improving criminal case processing and how each court entity will use the
funds.
Counties may apply to use the funds for any purpose that improves criminal caseflow.
Solutions in each county are different due to varying constraints such as funding,
caseload size, staffing, geographic constraints and interaction with local criminal justice
agencies. Some of the less populous counties have chosen to allow funds to build over
time until a balance of funds is sufficient to implement meaningful projects... The
following is a list of accomplishments for the counties receiving Fill the Gap funds.
Apache County
The Apache County Superior Court utilized a judge pro tem and field trainer to aid in
criminal case processing. The judge pro tem assisted with existing caseloads and
growing administrative duties for the Apache County Superior Court bench. Without this
position, the court would have experienced significant delays in the processing of
criminal cases. The field trainer was partially funded by FTG to provide local training to
-4-
superior, justice, and municipal court clerks in entering criminal cases into AZTEC and
AJACS and monitoring the criminal calendar. The training and assistance provided by
the field trainer continue to aid and educate limited and general jurisdiction staff in
identifying the most efficient business processes and increasing the use of advanced
automation systems. Funds were also used to support and maintain ACAP equipment
used by the court to process criminal cases.
Cochise County
Cochise County continues to focus on early case and data management to improve
case processing and disposition times. In fiscal year 2012, Fill the Gap funds continued
to support a superior court judge pro tem to manage the front end of the felony case
processing system. The court's diligent and consistent effort with setting firm trial dates
at the arraignment phase and case management conferences held 30 days thereafter,
has contributed to effective case management. Fill the Gap funds also partially funded
a presentence investigator. The presentence investigator completes presentence
interviews and files presentence reports. Presentence reports are an important part of
criminal case processing as the information is a useful resource for judges to complete
sentencing hearings more efficiently.
Coconino County
Coconino County operates DUI and drug specialty courts and continues to find these
programs successful by reducing the rate of recidivism for alcohol and drug related
cases in the superior court and justice courts. The operation of DUI and drug specialty
courts including monitoring of DUI/Drug Court participants by the probation department
is partially funded with Fill the Gap funds. The participants are high risk/high need
defendants who receive intensive treatment, judicial oversight, alcohol/drug urinalysis
tests, and probation supervision, and who participate in support groups. The DUI/drug
court cases are regularly staffed to monitor compliance or non-compliance. During fiscal
year 2012, DUI/Drug Court provided intensive treatment to 121 participants. Ninety-nine
percent of the 5,207 urinalysis tests given during the fiscal year reflected no illicit
substances. The percentage of participants re-arrested while still involved with the
program was 8%.
La Paz County
Fifty percent of the case filings in La Paz County are criminal cases and the court has
been able to maintain case processing times with Fill the Gap funds by supporting
personnel to aid in improving and expediting criminal case processing. Funds have
supported an AZTEC/AJACS field trainer, pre-sentence investigator, network support
technician and court operations personnel. The La Paz County field trainer provides
standardized training to superior, justice, and municipal courts in entering criminal cases
into the case management systems; monitors case aging reports; provides assistance
in keeping and reporting statistics; and developing directives for data clean-up. The
presentence investigator completed 105 pre-sentence reports, 98% of the time within
the statutory time frame. The network support technician provided the technical
knowledge and support to ensure the courts were able to maintain and provide accurate
criminal case data monitoring and reporting in the superior court’s case management
system (CMS). This position also assisted with the preparation of the county strategic IT
-5-
plan and OnBase (electronic document management system) installation upgrades and
updates as well as many other case management initiatives. This grant also funds an
adult probation officer, bailiff and judicial assistant which support criminal case
processing.
Maricopa County
Maricopa County funds various personnel who aid in early case management and
dedicated case processing. The court used Fill the Gap funds for criminal case
processing by effectively evaluating offenders and by assigning cases for dedicated
case processing. Advances were made in criminal case processing using Fill the Gap
funds for resources which developed and maintained existing processes for felony case
processing.
In collaboration with the Clerk’s Office and Adult Probation, the Superior Court has
managed to successfully develop through Fill the Gap funds the following programs to
make progress with criminal case processing.
Reporting and Case Management
 The presentence screener in Adult Probation assesses offender treatment needs
and the risk of re-offending. The assessment information is passed to the probation
officer to produce a presentence report and sentencing recommendation to support
determination of an appropriate disposition which contributes to maintaining a lower
continuance rate.
 A domestic violence officer was funded in Adult Probation to provide supervision for
a caseload of high-risk domestic violence offenders. The probationers are monitored
closely to prevent recidivism in the community and with victims.
 A probation officer is funded to supervise standard probationers and help with
maintaining manageable caseloads. The probation officer enforces court orders,
evaluates for treatment and educational needs and also monitors for substance
abuse.
 The funded court liaison probation officer in Adult Probation organizes vital
information to report to the court regarding probation violators on behalf of officers
located throughout the valley. This position is a valuable resource in terms of
efficiency and overall costs.
 The Clerk’s Office continued using funds to support court clerks who perform
mandated functions directly related to criminal case processing such as covering
criminal calendars, recording court proceedings, transcribing notes, and recording
and securing exhibits.
 The Clerk’s Office also funded document and management staff to provide staff
resources for case filing, docketing, scanning, and related document management
processes.
-6-
Centralized and Dedicated Case Processing
 Regional Court Centers provide a forum for centrally processing preliminary
hearings, pleas, and felony arraignments. The three centers have received 22,808
new filings and sentenced 5,745 cases during this period.
 The Early Disposition Court received 15,755 new drug case filings and sentenced
4,635 cases during this period. The facility resolves most non-violent drug
possession and use cases. The Master Calendar Commissioners and Judges hear
cases not terminated in the EDC.
 In the Probation Adjudication Center over 11,566 revocation arraignment cases were
processed during fiscal year 2012. During fiscal year 2012, calendar times were
modified to allow stakeholders more time to meet clients, transport defendants,
prepare for court and address sensitive court cases without interruption to other
defendants or court observers.
 The Initial Appearance Court runs eight daily calendars continuously. The number
of cases heard in fiscal year 2012 totaled 67,959.
 Post Conviction Relief (PCR) is a centralized unit within the Criminal department.
They monitored 1,349 cases in fiscal year 2012. The PCR unit is also exploring
web-based applications to allow court reporters to track the status of transcript
requests and due dates.
 The Master Calendar, consisting of 6 Master Calendar Commissioners, heard over
42,943 matters which included Initial Pretrial Conference comprehensive pretrial
conferences, non-witness violations, changes of plea, settlement conferences,
sentencing and trials.
 The criminal information desk handled 50,329 phone calls, 19,661 walk in customers
and 864 monolingual Spanish speaking customers during this reporting period.
 The Not-Guilty Arraignment (NGA) calendar heard 12,758 cases. Initial Appearance
by Summons (IAS) heard 7,000 matters. The Bond Forfeiture (BF) calendar
processed 1,288 maters, resulting in $1,692,262 in bonds forfeited by the posting
party during fiscal year 2012.
Mohave County
Mohave County utilized funds to expedite criminal case processing by maintaining
workflow. Fill the Gap funds were expended for various resources supporting criminal
case processing including a court commissioner, judicial assistant, courtroom clerks and
freelance court reporters. The Court Commissioner has enabled Mohave County to
revise the case assignment system to redistribute heavy dockets. The clerks provided
the additional resources needed for preparation, operation and to follow-up on court
-7-
activities. Freelance court reporters have provided greater flexibility for court divisions
and court commissioner to cover criminal court proceedings as required by statute.
Security was also funded during this fiscal year which provided protection during
hearings, trials and court appearances as well as responding to disturbances in the
court when necessary. These resources support and protect the court’s efforts to
improve workflow and case processing times.
Navajo County
Navajo County courts have continued to utilize personnel to improve coverage for the
court’s criminal calendar which has reduced continuances and improved case-processing
time to disposition. In fiscal year 2012, the court spent Fill the Gap funds for
a judge pro tem, court reporter, caseflow manager, court services director, an on-call
interpreter and other court support personnel to assist in the criminal case processing
effort. The judge pro tem conducted pretrial hearings, change of pleas and trials on
criminal matters and the caseflow manager provided the data tools to assist judges in
decision-making on pending cases. The funded court services director in the justice
court provides quality management data and monthly caseflow management reports to
the judges and staff with information on pending court proceedings and past
continuances. The information provided by the caseflow manager is used as a tool to
maintain focus on time limits and DUI standards. Access to court reporters and back-up,
on call interpreters, has aided case processing by providing more reliable coverage for
the criminal calendar. Sixty-nine cases were aided by on-call interpreters. In fiscal year
2012, 62.7% of the criminal cases were disposed within 180 days and 5% were
disposed in 100 days.
Pima County
Pima County continues to improve technology through electronic data sharing to
expedite criminal cases and reduce time to disposition by improving case evaluation and
management to lessen the time between court events. Pima County FTG projects
continue to improve timely notification of grand jury indictments to detention personnel
and defendants, streamline presentence processing and minute entry distribution,
improve criminal case disposition reporting, improve collections of fees and fines and
utilize technology to enhance overall court operations to save time and money. In fiscal
year 2011, 72% of the criminal cases were disposed within 180 days and 37% were
disposed in 100 days. Pima County reports that judicial vacancies (just under 15%), a
trial rate of 8% (as compared to the national average of 3%), and new prosecutors may
have contributed to the number of cases disposed in 100 days.
Pima County continues to improve criminal case processing through various
approaches with workflow and utilization of technology.
 The Pretrial Services Intake Unit of the Superior Court is responsible for screening
all arrestees, conducting background investigations and submitting
recommendations regarding each person's eligibility for non-financial release at the
initial appearance. The information is reported to the judge for final review at the
initial appearance. In fiscal year 2012, 99.5% of cases had a report filed with the
court and were eligible according to the set guidelines.
-8-
 The Fill The Gap funded pro tem judicial division adjudicated 466 cases in FY12.
 The assessment center of the Adult Probation Department prepares presentence
reports on all felony cases adjudicated in the Superior Court. The number of
presentence reports conducted for fiscal year 2012, was approximately 127 per
officer.
 Adult Probation Supervision in the Pima County Consolidated Justice court consists
of two funded adult probation officers who are assigned to supervise justice court
defendants convicted of DUI, extreme DUI and domestic violence offenses. Their
responsibilities also include completing pre-sentence investigations and reports,
ensuring defendant compliance with probation conditions, and preparing petitions to
revoke and/or arrest probationers when required. The two officers supervised 698
individuals with a monthly case load averaging 342 persons in fiscal year 2012.
 Pima County Consolidated Justice Courts continued funding one of the five staff
assigned to the Phone Team to handle incoming criminal and criminal traffic
telephone inquiries. In fiscal year 2012, phone teams received 209,671 calls, 1,935
email inquiries, and placed 10,661 outbound calls in response to messages left in
the IVR voicemail system. The Phone Team experienced a 22% increase in phone
calls, making it even more valuable to retain a dedicated person to handle the
criminal and criminal traffic workload. The huge increase in call volume also
contributed to an increase in the call abandonment rate to 10%.
 The Pima County Consolidated Justice Court continued to fund a programmer
analyst for technical programming support. This person is responsible for managing
several projects in the court’s MIS department to support case information
management which is necessary for processing criminal cases. Some of the major
contributions made during fiscal year 2012 include a jail receiving booking data
system, new user application for court document creation, new application for MVD
reporting, eCitations to the electronic data management system and new case
management efforts.
 Pima County Consolidated Justice Courts utilized Fill the Gap funding to pay for a
service agreement with the Sheriff’s Department to process appearance bonds. A
total of 1,505 appearance bonds totaling $5,426,264 were collected for fiscal year
2012.
 Pima County Consolidated Justice Courts continued funding a dedicated Spanish
language interpreter to provide interpreting services necessary to meet the demands
of the court’s criminal and DUI caseloads in fiscal year 2012. The interpreter
provided services to 1,792 court events and coordinated ASL and other language
interpreting services as needed. Since the use of an on-site, full-time interpreter
cases flow more smoothly through the system due to better scheduling and
management and therefore reducing delays in criminal case processing.
-9-
 A judicial security officer was assigned to the domestic violence specialty court to
reduce the overall workload that was frequently placed on security staff. This
position escorts detainees to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department detention center
and escorts victims to their vehicles when needed. The presence of a security officer
in the courtroom helps reduce the likelihood of violence in situations where litigants
are emotionally charged. In fiscal year 2012 the security officer performed 111
vehicle escorts, detained 153 individuals, responded to 181 requests for officer
courtroom presence and 7 medical emergencies.
 Pima County Consolidated Justice Court, Green Valley Justice Court and Ajo Justice
Court funded support for maintaining a twice-daily initial arraignment program held at
the Pima County Jail in partnership with the Superior Court and Tucson City Court.
During fiscal year 2012, 8,202 initial arraignments were conducted.
 The Clerk of the Superior Court's Probation Fine/Fee Billing program provides
quarterly billing notices to ensure probationers submit payments in a timely manner.
During fiscal year 2012, 7,509 probationers were billed and $4,161,318.00 was
collected. Continued funding of this project has improved criminal case processing
times by reducing the number of probationers placed in the collections process.
 Pima County Consolidated Justice Court successfully acquired an OnBase
electronic document management solution to convert documents from hard copies to
digital images for easy and secure storage. This has expedited document retrieval
and improved physical space in the court.
 The Clerk of the Court continued to utilize a case document processing center that
organizes the distribution of minute entries, pre-sentence reports, and the imaging
and storage of criminal case and other hard copy documents. The center expedites
document delivery and reduces the costs of producing hard copies. In fiscal year
2012 the court was successful in processing court documents, within 4-6 hours of
receipt.
 The clerk of the court processed over 3,590 criminal minutes entries weekly and has
been successful with distributing them the same day. During fiscal year 2012, non-attorneys
have been added the e-distribution system to receive minute entries.
 Green Valley Justice Court funding allowed completion of their Criminal Case
Warrant Center and successfully eliminated their warrant backlog in fiscal year 2011.
Warrants are now processed on a daily basis.
 The AZTEC field trainer ensured ongoing standardized training for all courts within
the county as well as monitoring case aging reports. The field trainer continues to
devote time to training staff with ongoing product enhancements.
 Green Valley Justice court received funding for a part-time position to assist with
management of the criminal case backlog. This position has eliminated warrant
reporting backlog for fiscal year 2012.
-10-
 Ajo Justice Court used Fill the Gap funds to maintain a service agreement for their
digital, audio recording systems. The equipment improves the clarity of recorded
audio for a more reliable account of court proceedings.
 Ajo Justice Court funded several technology courtroom and computer upgrades
including software, audio recording equipment and computers to maintain service
demands with criminal case processing.
Pinal County
Pinal County supported use of a pre-arraignment Early Disposition Court (EDC) and the
Probation Revocation Calendar Docket and experienced a positive outcome with
expediting case disposition. The Early Disposition Court docket removes less complex
and lower felony cases from traditional judicial dockets to a docket which sets firm limits
on the number of court settings per case. In addition to EDC, Pinal County uses a
Probation Revocation Calendar Docket, which removes probation revocation cases
from the calendars of full time criminal court judges. To effectively manage and support
this workload, Fill The Gap funds continued funding a portion of the salary and ERE for
judge pro tems, judicial assistants, clerks and bailiffs for the superior court and clerk of
court to maintain operations. In fiscal year 2012, 81.2% of the criminal cases were
disposed of within 180 days and 64% in 100 days.
Santa Cruz County
The Superior and Clerk of the Court in Santa Cruz County used fill the gap funds in
fiscal year 2012 to expedite felony case processing by improving the allocation of court
workload. Two judicial enforcement clerks handle various aspects relating to preparing
and the follow-up of overdue payments and delinquent accounts. The Clerk of Court
funded a criminal deputy clerk to cover all criminal matters for three local superior court
judges and visiting judges assigned to Santa Cruz County on a weekly basis. The
criminal clerk also serves as the Assistant Jury Commissioner and is responsible for all
scheduling, calendar maintenance, questionnaires, and summoning of jurors for service
and processing jury payments.
Yavapai County
Yavapai County utilizes early disposition and post-adjudication DUI and drug court as a
method to effectively manage non-violent adult offenders. There were 158 participants
between Adult Drug Court and DUI Court for fiscal year 2012. In addition to the
voluntary, post-adjudication drug court program, Fill the Gap funding provided part time
pro tem judges, a caseflow manager, court reporter and a program manager and
supporting staff. The judge pro tem heard approximately 672 cases in fiscal year 2012.
The caseflow/program manager plays an integral role by providing accurate and timely
case management reports to better assess criminal case processing. In addition, this
position is dedicated to planning and implementing cost-effective technology solutions
so courts may be responsive to changing business needs and demands.
-11-
Yuma County
In Yuma County the focus has been on processing, collecting and analyzing criminal
case data for effective criminal case management and to expedite criminal case
processing. Fill the Gap Funds personnel whose primary responsibilities are to process
criminal cases and to collect, analyze and report criminal case data. Yuma also
continues to participate in a court performance measurement system initiative designed
by the National Center for State Courts to improve and expedite criminal case
processing.
Collections Efforts
The Fines/Fees and Restitution Enforcement (FARE) and Debt Set-Off (DSO) statewide
collection programs are continuing to provide successful results. Both programs are
essential to the progress made in enforcing compliance court orders for Arizona.
During fiscal year 2003, the FARE program was established to increase compliance
with court orders, specifically focusing on collection efforts. The AOC contracted with
Affiliated Computer Services State and Local Solutions, now Xerox State and Local
Solutions, to provide various collection options to Arizona courts. Collection services
presently offered by Xerox include: reminder notices, electronic skip tracing, interactive
voice recording (IVR) and Internet based (WEB) payment options, collection notices,
credit bureau reporting, outbound collection calls and assignment to the Debt Setoff
Program and/or the Motor Vehicle Division's Traffic Ticket Enforcement Assistance
Program (TTEAP). Defendants whose cases have been referred to TTEAP are not able
to re-register their vehicle until their court obligations are satisfied.
As a result of FARE, a total of $45,503,051 was collected on backlog cases in fiscal
year 2012. Over $11 million was collected via the web and IVR. There were 47,948
vehicle registration holds placed and 44,455 releases due to payment. In fiscal year
2012, there were 171 participating courts in 15 counties.
The Debt Setoff (DSO) program was established in 1992 to hold offenders accountable
for financial obligations owed, to assist in the enforcement of court orders, and to
increase collections in the Arizona court system. The agency (such as the court,
probation department or county attorney office) provides the name, social security
number and the full amount of the debt to the DSO program and if a debt claim matches
with a taxpayer's refund or lottery winning, an intercept will occur. During calendar year
2012, there were 202 participants in the Arizona Supreme Court’s DSO program. During
calendar year 2012, the DSO program had 87,268 tax and lottery interceptions, an
increase of 1.2% from calendar year 2011. Revenue for calendar year 2012 totaled
$18,589,243. Note that this information is tracked by calendar year in keeping with the
tax year.
Conclusion
The AOC and participating counties work toward programs that consistently aid courts
with implementing long term solutions to improve criminal case processing and the
enforcement of court orders. Courts continue to experience growing criminal caseloads
and in fiscal year 2012, Fill the Gap funding provided resources to advance technology
-12-
and streamline case processing. The courts continue to expedite case processing by
enhancing court operations and technology. Collecting and analyzing criminal case data
has proven to be effective with early case management and to improve workflow.
Technology has been key to improving the court’s access to more user-friendly data for
all aspects of criminal case processing. The achievements made so far in Arizona mark
significant progress towards achieving swift, fair justice through Arizona’s justice
system.
Timely criminal case disposition is critical to public safety, protection of victims’ rights,
restitution collection and addressing systemic issues, e.g., jail overcrowding, clogged
court calendars, etc. Fill The Gap dollars help courts and justice agencies deliver best
practices in all of these areas.