Best Practices

Articles in Best Practices (21)

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Best Practices

eCourtDate Excited to Support Development of National Pretrial IT Standards

eCourtDate partners with NAPSA to develop national Pretrial IT Standards, promoting fairness, efficiency, and trust thro...

Greg Shugart

Nov 03, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

Why Missing Court Is So Expensive: The Hidden Cost of FTAs

Missing court adds 59% in fines. A study shows how eCourtDate can help cut FTAs with text reminders, reducing costs and...

Greg Shugart

Jul 29, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

When Showing Up Means Everything: Reflections from the IJIS Award Ceremony

New Mexico Pretrial Justice Program earned Honorable Mention for the IJIS Court Integration Excellence Award, using eCou...

Greg Shugart

Jul 22, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

Every Jurisdiction Deserves Automated Court Reminders: Turning Policy into Practice

eCourtDate delivers the automated court reminder systems R Street advocates—proven, equitable, and cost-effective soluti...

Greg Shugart

Oct 16, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

We Did Something Simple. It Worked. And Now I Know Why.

One operational change at jail booking dropped Tarrant County's warrant rate from 9% to 2.6%. ideas42 research explains...

Greg Shugart

May 20, 2026

5 min read

Best Practices

A Practical Guide for Texas Courts: How to Send Court Text Reminders the Right Way

Texas courts can send text reminders legally and for free. Here is what the law says, why consent rules don't apply, and...

Greg Shugart

Mar 16, 2026

5 min read

Best Practices

Court Reminder Programs Work. Enrollment Design Determines Whether Anyone Benefits.

A Cicero Institute brief makes the fiscal case for opt-out court reminder enrollment, where participation reaches 72-90%...

Greg Shugart

May 04, 2026

5 min read

Best Practices

What CourTools Can’t See

CourTools tracks clearance rate, time to disposition, and trial date certainty. Here’s what predicts those scores before...

Greg Shugart

Jun 09, 2026

5 min read

Best Practices

Turning Pretrial Performance Measures Into Action with Dashboards

APPR defines what to measure in pretrial. eCourtDate dashboards show how to act on it, turning data into decisions that...

Greg Shugart

Aug 27, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

What Failures to Appear Actually Cost Courts

Prevention costs $9.84 per FTA. Enforcement costs $2,850. That's 290:1 ROI. Yet half of states don't use court reminders...

Greg Shugart

Feb 13, 2026

5 min read

Best Practices

Keeping Momentum in Pretrial Data: Lessons from Virginia

Virginia’s Pretrial Data Project shows the power of persistence. With eCourtDate, agencies can turn years of work into r...

Greg Shugart

Sep 23, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

Transactional Compliance for Court Email Reminders: Balancing Law, Access, and Admin Practice

Courts are expanding to email reminders. Learn how CAN-SPAM and state laws apply, and how to balance compliance, access,...

Greg Shugart

Oct 24, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

You Cannot Change the Whole Court System at Once, but You Can Start with Notifications

Court systems are complex, but small steps matter. Court reminders cut missed appearances by up to 40%. eCourtDate helps...

Greg Shugart

Sep 08, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

What Courts Can Learn from NCSC’s 2025 Trends Report and How We Are Already Building It

NCSC’s 2025 Trends highlights AI shaping courts. Read the report and see how eCourtDate brings these innovations to life...

Greg Shugart

Aug 11, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

Modernizing Court Communication in a System That Makes Change Hard - Pt 1

Part 1 of 3. Court reminders work, but adoption is slow. This post looks at the evidence and the barriers that make impl...

Greg Shugart

Nov 24, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

Modernizing Court Communication in a System That Makes Change Hard - Pt 2

Part 2 of 3. Courts want to modernize, but structural limits make change hard. This post explores why busy workflows and...

Greg Shugart

Dec 05, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

Be Process and Performance Driven: Applying the TAC Way in the Courts

Counties improve justice outcomes by focusing on process and performance. See how eCourtDate supports the TAC Way’s goal...

Greg Shugart

Oct 07, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

Opt-In Compliance for Court Text Messaging: Balancing Law, Access, and Administrative Practice

Courts can balance TCPA compliance with access to justice. Learn best practices for lawful, equitable court text reminde...

Greg Shugart

Oct 13, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

Modernizing Court Communication in a System That Makes Change Hard - Pt 3

Modern court communication does not have to be hard. The right partner helps counties reduce complexity, improve outcome...

Greg Shugart

Dec 23, 2025

5 min read

Best Practices

The Choice: What Courts Do Next

Six posts. Dozens of studies. One conclusion: court reminder systems work. Here's what the research proved and the six s...

Greg Shugart

Mar 10, 2026

5 min read

Best Practices

Failure to Appear Is a System Problem, Not Just a Defendant Problem

System actors miss court in 53% of cases. Defendants miss in 19%. New data reframes failure to appear as a system proble...

Greg Shugart

Apr 24, 2026

5 min read

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