CRIMINAL JUSTICE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

July 9, 2008

Administrative Center Room 3220

11:30 a.m.

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 11:37 a.m.

PUBLIC COMMENT

There was no public comment. 

APPROVAL OF JUNE 11, 2008 MINUTES OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE MANAGEMENT EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE – These minutes were approved as submitted.

CASE PROCESSING – EFFICIENCY

Jane indicated that we are in the process of having bonds done electronically.  One of the ideas discussed was to include the Justice Sanctions conditions on these somewhere so that people would have access to it.  This would mean that the data would have to be accurate and clients could never be wrong by a minute. Also, Jane discussed this with the City Police.  Currently, they know who is on Justice Sanctions, but they don’t know exactly what program the person is on.  The concern is whether or not this information is being read accurately.   Should this go to the judges? How do we talk to law enforcement? Jane will draft a letter from the judges to law enforcement indicating that Justice Sanctions does not set bond conditions.  The judges will have to check the boxes on the bottom of the JS Order in addition to “comply with Justice Sanctions”.  This will also be included in the letter Jane will draft for Law Enforcement. 

JAIL POPULATION – STATISTICS

Jane distributed stats indicating that the jail has been overcrowded recently.  On July 7^th, Jane looked at the entire jail population to see the reason that these people were in jail and distributed the stats for people in jail for 2007 and 2008.  The reasons for being in jail were: JS, DOC, cash bond, sentence, county warrant, treatment, multiple, misc., or hold for prison. In 2007, the DOC had about 25% of the people in jail.  In 2008, it’s running about the same.  Cash bonds were about 24-26% in 2007 and the two times that she looked at the entire jail population in 2008, it was 31 & 34%, which was quite a bit higher. Sentenced cases in 2007 were running between 12-17% and it’s higher now as well. She also did a chart to see what judges were keeping the people in longer.  There seemed to be one Branch that was way higher in cash bonds than the others. Jane will take this list to see who actually set bond.  This will be put on next month’s agenda.

Sentences:  Jane distributed a list of people incarcerated for each of the 5 branches.  Branch 1: 4 people in jail on a sentence; Branch 2: 2 people; Branch 3: 7 people; Branch 4: 8 people.  Branch 5: 3 people.  If a person is safe enough to be in the community for part of their sentence, why wouldn’t you do it for their entire sentence? When we had the Huber Center, it was less likely that a judge would do half & half.  Jane also tried to find old snapshots so she could compare how many people were in jail on sentences, as she feels this number has grown. Currently, almost 20% of the people in jail are there on a sentence, which is high.   The average daily population of women has been 15-20 consistently, but the last month 35–40 on a daily basis.  On the snapshot day that Jane picked, there were 53 DOC clients in jail.  Of the 229 people – 75% of them were probation holds, sentences and bonds.

BAIL JUMPING CASES

Tim Gruenke distributed a list of statistics with Bail Jumpings, which wasn’t totally accurate because criminal traffic wasn’t looked at. At a CJMC meeting several years ago, there was discussion about what happens with JS has an alcohol violation – is it charged as a bail jumping? Terri will look through some of the old minutes to see if there was anything decided on this. 

It was suggested that each Branch get a report which includes all of the judges once a month. This will be put on next month’s agenda.

ETHICS QUESTIONS

Tim had researched the ethical question about when a person comes in for a pretrial, can we give them a written offer. We would need to be careful and creative if doing this, and not influence the person. This will be discussed at the next meeting.

ADJOURN

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:05 p.m.

Next Meeting:

1. Cash Bonds - Stats

2. Bail Jumping

3. Pretrial with no attorney – can we give written offer?

4. AIM Update

5. Converting Fines to a Civil Judgment in lieu of jail.

Next Meeting Date: August 13^th at 11:30 a.m. in Room 3220.

The above minutes may be approved, amended or corrected at the next Council meeting.

Recorded by Terri Pavlic