COURT MONITORING

Court Monitoring is a preventive step on behalf of victims to ensure the criminal courts system is held accountable. Trained volunteers observe and gather data on DUI court proceedings, including arraignments, pretrial hearings, trials and sentencing. The goals of court monitoring are to compile pertinent information on how DUI court cases are handled across the nation, convey to those in the legal system the public's interest and concern about criminal cases, and use the data to help improve the legal system. There are three prongs to the type of information gathered.

To assess the courts, volunteers evaluate judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers and court staff on aspects such as preparedness, understanding of the law(s), treatment of victim(s) and the manner in which the proceedings were held.

In tracking offenders, data collected focuses on the charges, previous charges and/or convictions, punishment rendered in any previous convictions, and the offender's demeanor during proceedings.

To plot trends in punishment and case outcomes, volunteers record information such as accepted plea bargains and consistency with the offense, the victim(s) role in plea agreement, if a victim impact statement was allowed to be read aloud in the courtroom, and punishment of the offender including probation, jail time, fines, and license suspension/revocation.

You can help ensure fairness and justice for innocent victims. Become a court monitor.