Missouri Court Monitoring Report 2022

MADD’s Court Monitoring Program enlists court monitors to observe and document what happens in the courtroom during impaired driving case proceedings. The program was created to ensure that impaired driving offenders are prosecuted and justice is achieved. Court monitoring is a tool proven to affect the adjudication process and is recognized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as an effective countermeasure to reduce impaired driving (1). Court monitors on the local scale can impact the handling of impaired driving cases by their mere presence in the court room.

Court monitoring is intended to enhance transparency and accountability within the criminal justice system and reduce the likelihood of repeat offenses. One way this goal is achieved is by sharing data and observations with law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, and the public to promote awareness of impaired driving and ensure accountability for all impaired driving offenders. To reduce future offenses, MADD® supports swift and unbiased treatment of all impaired driving cases. Court monitors track misdemeanor and felony (2 or more guilty DWI convictions) impaired driving cases in the judicial courts of their respective counties. Court monitors are often physically present for court settings and acquire case information from courtroom observation and, when necessary, from researching online databases. The data is then entered into the MADD National Court Monitoring Database for reporting purposes. The information presented in this report is from cases monitored in 2021.

The Missouri Court Monitoring Program monitored cases in the following 9 counties: Cass, Clay, Franklin, Greene, Jackson, Jefferson, Platte, Saint Charles, and Saint Louis.

Missouri State Report (reporting period: 1/1/2021 – 12/31/2021)

Case Disposition DUI

Where disposition is known.

This report is designed to present observations and trends relative to the counties monitored and is not intended to be a statistical analysis. Court monitors observe various hearings as they proceed through the criminal justice system and collect pertinent data. Data is verified with court clerks; most often with the State of Missouri’s online court system, Case.net (https://www.courts.mo.gov/casenet/base/welcome. do). This report focuses on the cases closed during the 2021 year. This report does not include offenders who have entered DWI/Alternative Court Treatment Programs.

1,000

937

750

667

500

250

134

A

69

17

0

lit of

Pending Cases Monitored* | 3946| 68% Adjudicated Cases Monitored | 1841 | 32% Total Cases Monitored in 2021 | 5787 *pending cases are cases waiting for a judgement

*Deferred Prosecution includes a version of informal probation; and upon certain completion of terms, the charge may be expunged from the defendant’s record. **An amended disposition means the charge was either amended to a lesser charge (such as Reckless Driving) or amended to a higher charge (less common)

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