Pachyderm Meeting | Lake County Deputy Attorney on Pretrial Services Pilot Program

James Lapotka, deputy county attorney of Lake County at the next Pachyderm Meeting will be discussing the Pretrial Services pilot program coming soon to the Lake county court system as part of a legislative effort to increase efficiency and reduce overall costs over time.

Gallatin county has implemented Pretrial and re-entry services. The county reportedly has seen reduced recidivism rates and cost savings over time. The cultural component in Lake County remains to be seen as Native American citizens charged with crimes may respond differently to interventions to get people to show up and follow through with their court trial. One example might be providing TrackPhones to people for a probation officer to be able to give them reminder calls the day of the trial. Interventions tested on mainstream populations may need to be adapted on a minority subculture. The results will be a part of the legal research to improve the correctional system.

Last month, a training was provided to a variety of staff from the police department, county civil and criminal legal department on how to implement the pilot project in Lake County. The goal appears to be that citizens charged with crimes will be notified, motivated, tracked to be moved through the legal system faster -- so it is less disruptive to their life, chances for rehabilitation and LESS expensive for the court system to have drawn out legal cases. In addition, the tracking and research in a county provides a district judges with case history research on key factors in a risk assessment report applied to each person which places them in low to high risk category of re-committing a crime, so judges can more informed decisions on court orders and appeals.

He will be speaking on 5/11 Friday from noon-1pm at the Rural Fire hall off of Regatta Road. Please come and bring questions and friends.

Coffee, tea and cookies will be provided.

Photo Credit: James Lapotka in the Valley Journal Article http://www.valleyjournal.net/Article/13256/Judge-deputy-county-attorney-discuss-drug-problem-solutions