Proposal Automatically Notifies Victims, Witnesses Of Court Dates

WAUKEGAN, IL — A proposed pilot program in Lake County would provide automatic text message notifications of upcoming court dates to crime victims and witnesses.

A bill introduced last month by State Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Lake Forest) allocates $50,000 for the Lake County State's Attorney's Office to administer a two-year pilot program.

According to Senate Bill 3779, the money would be used to send "electronic text messages to remind victims and surviving family members of upcoming court dates." It would take effect in July.

“We have an option to make the court system as accessible as possible to victims of crime,” Morrison said in a statement. “This pilot program is innovative and will make a difference in how Lake County will be able to communicate with victims and their families.”

In Illinois, the Rights of Victims and Witnesses Act gives crime victims the right to timely notification of all court proceedings.

There are 12 full-time victim-witness coordinators currently employed by the Lake County State's Attorney's Office. Part of their duties involve giving updates about changes to court dates to victims and witnesses, according to a spokesperson for the office, who estimated they keep track of more than 1,000 victims at a time.

Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart said in a statement that the additional money the pilot program would provide was a needed "safety net" to ensure victims get word about court proceedings.

"Our coordinators are amazing,” Rinehart said. “Some of them have over 150 victims to contact. With this new program, they can prioritize individualized support while this system quickly delivers basic and accurate information to every victim and every witness.”

Unlike in Lake County, criminal court information in Cook County is completely hidden from public view outside of courthouses.

As a result, not only are victims and witnesses not always aware of court dates, but defendants also regularly report they have not been notified of the time and location where they are due in court, which can lead to the issuance of warrants for their arrest.

Associate Clerk Cesar Rolón, spokesperson for Cook County Circuit Clerk Iris Martinez, told Patch that Illinois Supreme Court rules prohibit the criminal court docket from being made available to the public, even though Lake County and several other Chicago area counties do so.

In fact, the rules say indexes of cases, calendars of court proceedings and the record sheet and sentencing information from criminal cases "should be made electronically accessible to the public if it exists in electronic form."

Earlier this month, Morrison's bill financing the Lake County pilot program was referred back to the Senate's assignments committee from the judiciary committee, where it did not get a hearing. The proposed legislation has yet to attract any co-sponsors.