See improvements in your traffic and minor infraction resolution results with online adjudication and plea negotiation:
Half the schedule: your days to case closure cut to 50%
30 times fewer defaults: the proportion of cases that default is cut from 15% to 0.5%
80% less staff time: And while your case volume is rising slightly overall, your staff time spent on routine hearings and procedures is cut to 20% of what it was.
This could be your court.
Ticket and Minor Infraction Resolution Results
All Matterhorn solutions are rigorously evaluated against key court and performance metrics, including:
- Public participation
- Time and cost savings of courts
- Case closure times
- Time to payment
- Default rates
- Feedback from court personnel
- Feedback from citizens
Analysis of these measures, both at the individual court level—as well as across the full spectrum of aggregated court data—reveals significant and positive outcomes for each of the metrics.
The outcomes below come from a study of six courts in Michigan who use Matterhorn online ticket and minor infraction resolution. Need more? See the results other courts have achieved.
Public Participation
Public participation in Matterhorn has consistently exceeded expectations in both rural and urban settings. The public has actively engaged in Matterhorn online dispute resolution from day one. This demonstrates that people are not only willing to use an online system to access the court, and in many cases, they may actually prefer to do so.
Increase Access
39%
Survey: 39% of people who used the system said they would not have been able to come to court in person.
Cases Close More Quickly
Times to case closure have been significantly reduced for courts using Matterhorn—from an average of 50 days before Matterhorn to just 14 days after implementation. But this reduction extends beyond the cases processed through the Matterhorn platform. On average, courts experience a reduction in time to close all cases, even for non-Matterhorn cases, from 50 days before launch to 34 days after.
-72%
Matterhorn decreases case closure times to an average of 14 days, compared with an average of 50 days pre-launch. That’s 72% faster time to closure.
Courts Save Time and Resources
Public participation online saves court resources.
With Matterhorn, court staff spend less time on administrative tasks and related hearing time for cases handled online. For example, Matterhorn has saved one court 130 minutes of combined staff time per hearing, cutting total time to 27 minutes from 157.
Most importantly, staff can focus on issues that need more of their attention.
Other parties benefit, too: law enforcement officers spend less time in court and more time in the community. Members of the public no longer need to take time off work, secure childcare, or find a way to get to court. That means time and cost savings for them too, and a leveling of access for people who have the hardest time getting to court.
Courts using Matterhorn also benefit from an increase in court capacity. Data reveal that as the number of cases “heard” online increases, the overall number of cases courts process rises as well. Furthermore, courts are able to handle these additional cases without increasing their staff.
Do the same work in
<20%
of the time.
Courts can handle these transactions more efficiently with Matterhorn: dropping staff time from an average of 157 minutes to only 27 per case.
Improve Time to Payment
In addition, time to payment has been substantially reduced for Matterhorn cases. Prior to Matterhorn, these courts had never approached 100% collection of fines. Using Matterhorn, on average courts collected 92% of fines in just 30 days—compared to only 51% before implementation. That's an 80% improvement.
And within 90 days, 99% of fines are collected through Matterhorn. With an ability-to-pay assessment included at the initiation of Matterhorn cases, citizens are able to begin a payment plan at the onset of their case and pay off their court obligations sooner.
92%
Cases handled on Matterhorn are paid more quickly. Only half of similar cases handled offline are paid in 30 days, compared to most Matterhorn cases. That’s an 80% improvement in the number of cases which pay in 30 days.
Fewer Defaults
Fewer than 2% of cases heard online through Matterhorn default, compared to rates ranging from 13 to 37% for cases that don’t go online. The system has a configurable ability-to-pay “smart” assessment that courts can use to evaluate and develop an optimal payment plan or alternative penalty—when needed.
2%
Matterhorn decreases defaults to an average of 2%, compared with 13-37% for non-Matterhorn cases.
Ticket and Minor Infraction Resolution Results: Feedback from Courts and Citizens
Court personnel and law enforcement have provided very positive feedback from the Matterhorn system. In addition, the public has been very positive about the Matterhorn experience. The user survey reveals that more than 90% of people found the website easy to use. And 92% indicated they fully understood the state of their case throughout the online process.
But perhaps the most important finding of the user survey is the evidence that Matterhorn is significantly increasing public access to the courts. Enabling access to justice and making the process easier for citizens is a fundamental goal for all courts. Matterhorn was designed to reduce the most common barriers to access. We're proud to be working with our court customers to do it!
(Appearing in court) would have been difficult, as I would have had to take a day off work to drive 2 1/2 hours to the courthouse to appear. For people with no additional vacation, limited funds, small children, resolution online without the further expense of travel and possible lost wages is a tremendous and fair option. More jurisdictions around the country should have this type of access.
A Matterhorn user
Summary of Ticket and Minor Infraction Resolution Results
Matterhorn online dispute resolution has produced positive and meaningful results for court customers across all key outcome measures. This points to both court personnel and the public benefitting from technology to produce a more positive and profitable result for the courts.
In addition, Matterhorn helps courts level the playing field – enabling them to engage the public, increase efficiencies, speed up case closure and collection - with lower default rates, all while improving satisfaction and access to justice—regardless of the court’s geographic location or resources. As part of our ongoing mission, Matterhorn will continue to measure outcomes and report these outcomes to customers and the public.