The Downtown Austin Community Court (DACC) was established to address quality of life and public order offenses occurring in the downtown Austin area utilizing a restorative justice court model. DACC offers alternatives to fines and fees for defendants to handle their cases such as community service restitution and participation in rehabilitation services. Defendants who reside outside of a 40-mile radius from DACC are offered an opportunity to handle their case through correspondence action or virtual hearing, meaning a defendant does not have to come into court for any part of the judicial process. Correspondence and virtual action eliminates an undue burden requiring a defendant to travel back to Austin to appear for their case and it allows for quicker access to court services of Austin residents by reducing the number of individuals required to appear for their case. Being above or below the stated target is dependent on the number of Class C Misdemeanors citations written by the Austin Police Department however DACC will continue to identify cases where correspondence action is appropriate and offer it as an adjudication process.

The trend for correspondence action since FY18 has been fairly consistent. The Texas Supreme Court provided an option to conduct hearings virtually as a result of the COVID pandemic. This trend is largely driven by Austin area tourism since correspondence action and virtual hearings are only available for defendants residing at least 40 miles from DACC’s location on Barton Springs Rd.

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