COURT News:
SANTA FE — New Mexico’s Judiciary uses a robust text and email reminder messaging system to help ensure people awaiting trial return to court for their future hearings and comply with other pretrial supervision requirements.
The program marked its second anniversary last month.
The messaging system by the Pretrial Justice Program of the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC):
- Reminds people seven days, three days and one day before scheduled court dates, and one day before office visits and remote check-ins with pretrial supervisors.
- Notifies individuals when a court hearing has been canceled and inclement weather causes court closures or delayed openings.
- Sends a message to people who fail to appear in court with instructions on how they can get back into compliance with their pretrial requirements and avoid having an arrest warrant issued.
- Can deliver messages in 10 languages: English, Spanish, Diné, Mandarin, Arabic, Punjabi, Russian, Swahili, Vietnamese, and Cantonese.
Since the program began on Nov. 6, 2023, nearly 596,000 text messages and more than 168,000 emails have been sent to individuals under pretrial supervision by state courts. So far, 7,465 individuals have participated in the program and only 745 people on pretrial supervision have declined the offer to receive the reminder messages.
“It’s going great. We get several emails and texts every week from people thanking us for the reminders and telling us they would have missed their court hearings without these messages,” said Marshall Dixon, who oversees the messaging system as an AOC statewide pretrial program manager.
The text reminder program was recognized nationally earlier this year for its innovative messaging when it received an honorable mention for an excellence award at the National Association for Court Management’s annual conference. The system has integrated behavioral cues into the language of reminders to further promote court appearances by people.
For example, messages are sent using a person’s first name rather than a first and last name to better engage the individual and make the reminders less machine-like. Short questions may be asked of people several days before a court appearance: “Do you have a plan? Write it out?” The messages also may remind people, “An attorney will help you through the process. Missing court may lead to your arrest.”
“We have worked hard and utilized research to identify messaging to help people be successful,” said Gilbert Jaramillo, who administers the AOC’s Pretrial Justice Program as a senior statewide pretrial program manager. “Getting individuals to court, reinforcing contact with attorneys, and supporting compliance with pretrial conditions ensures an efficient justice system and resolution of cases.”
The pretrial reminder system is one of two messaging programs the AOC operates. A separate system, which was started in January 2024, sends texts and emails to people who are not under pretrial supervision to remind them about scheduled hearing dates in courts across New Mexico, except in Bernalillo County where the district and metropolitan courts operate their own reminder messaging systems.
“These reminder messaging systems demonstrate how the Judiciary embraces technology to better serve the people of New Mexico,” said Supreme Court Chief Justice David K. Thomson. “Evidence-based practices such as the reminder messages help ensure people charged with a crime appear in court and comply with pretrial requirements if they are released from custody to await trial.”