Key Findings & Observations MADD Tennessee began its grant-funded Court Monitoring Program in October 2019 and began monitoring cases in early January 2020. The Tennessee Highway Safety Office funds this program. The program’s goals are to compile pertinent information on DUI cases are handled; make those involved in the legal process aware of the public interest and concern about the outcome criminal case, and report relevant information gathered by the program to relevant entities so that the legal system can be improved. Our program selected Coffee, Davidson, Jefferson, Macon, Putnam, Rutherford, Shelby, Sumner, Weakley, and Wilson Counties to monitor. In March 2020, we were forced to monitor all counties, except Shelby, via the Tennessee Public Court Records System and/or the counties Clerk website due to courts being closed to outside people because of the pandemic. In December 2020, Shelby County District Attorney DUI Unit began allowing us to Zoom into their court hearings to monitor their DUI cases. Court Monitoring staff and volunteers collected specific information on cases stemming from DUI arrests in court hearings and through case research online. MADD Tennessee also held multiple meetings with informed individuals within the enforcement and prosecution communities to assist with interpretation and context. Based on the case information collected and tracked by MADD court monitors in 2020, the following overall observations were presented based on Tennessee’s court monitoring case data. • MADD Tennessee’s goals for this program is to enlist and train court monitors to observe and document what happens in the courtroom during DUI proceedings, track results, and identify inconsistencies on how DUI cases are handled and resolved. • During the Year 1 of the grant, we were able to monitor a total of 10 counties. • In the 2020 year, 780 cases were monitored. 127 cases currently have a pending outcome. These cases are likely pending due to the courts being backlogged because of the COVID-19 pandemic, continuances, and/or capias warrants being issued for offenders to appear in court. • Based on data from 2020, there were 109 Amended cases. • These cases were amended to lesser DUIs, Reckless Driving, and Reckless Endangerment. • Of those cases that were amended to lesser DUIs, the mandatory minimums were met for that lesser DUI. • Based on data from 2020, the longest case adjudication process took 2,174 days where the offender plead guilty to a third DUI offense. The shortest case adjudication process in 2020 was 8 days where the offender plead guilty to a 3rd DUI. • We began monitoring Shelby County in December 2020, so the case age for this county is extreme due to low number of overall cases monitored. • Based on data collected from 2020, the following observations on recidivism rate for DUI offenders was made: • Second offenses are 13% • Third offenses are 4% • Fourth or more offenses are 3%
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker