You've got court: Text messaging is latest tool in effort to reduce warrants for missed hearings

Westmoreland County Special Courts Administrator Christopher Haidze used to get a call every few months from District Judge Charles Conway, asking for a way to send digital reminders to defendants about their court dates.

“My answer was always the same: ‘They’re working on it,’ ” Haidze said.

Conway retired last year, not long before a program was put into place that does what he hoped. It sends text or email notifications about hearing dates to people who choose to receive them.

“It’s something that’s been requested over the years from a lot of parties involved in the court system,” Haidze said.

The electronic reminders are a way to increase hearing attendance and reduce the number of warrants issued when court dates are missed, said Stacey Witalec, communications director with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. The offering is part of an optional state program that launched in January.

Westmoreland County’s district judges got on board a couple of months ago, Haidze said. The alerts are a good way to reach people, even if they aren’t at the same mailing address they originally provided the court office, he said.

“A lot of people had phones, but they didn’t always stay at the same place,” he said.

Westmoreland is among 10 counties statewide where district courts have opted into using the program. Ten counties are using it at the Common Pleas level, Witalec said. State officials work with local court administrators to set it up, and training webinars are available for staff members.

“They can opt in on a case-by-case basis or sign up for everything,” Haidze said.

A few defendants who appeared in District Judge Judith Petrush’s Export courtroom for arraignment in March took her up on the offer.

“I’ve been trying to get everybody to sign up for it,” she said during one of the hearings.

The option is not available for landlord-tenant cases. District courts handle those along with traffic and nontraffic citations, as well as criminal cases and civil matters. Witalec said there is no cost to the counties.

Courts across the country have embraced email or text message reminders for court dates, and research has shown they work for reducing missed hearings, according to the Pretrial Justice Institute. A study in New York showed a 26% drop in failures to appear at hearings with reminder text messaging.