NCJ Number
202059
Editor(s)
Joanne Pozzo,
Kim Beverly,
Cora Thorne
Date Published
2002
Length
113 pages
Annotation
This document presents the annual report of the District of Columbia (DC) courts for the year 2002.
Abstract
The DC Courts continued to enhance access to justice and improve public safety for its constituents during 2002. The new initiatives and program activities focused on improving court operations. These activities included completing a first-ever Master Space Plan for Facilities; creating a Community Court; establishing a Family Court; opening a satellite Domestic Violence Intake Unit; enhancing courthouse security; and improving the courts' capacity to manage case information. For fiscal year 2002, Congress appropriated $112,180,000 for the Federal Payment to the DC Courts account. Funds were appropriated for operations of each component of the courts as follows: Court of Appeals, $8,003,000; Superior Court, $66,091,000; Court System, $31,594,000; and capital improvements for courthouse facilities, $6,492,000. The spending plan included several critically needed new positions as well as funds to enhance the skills and management of Court staff. Significant decisions of the Court of Appeals in 2002 included attorney discipline, charter school revocations, right of expressive association, and double jeopardy. The Superior Court continued its efforts to strengthen services to the public by building on the successes of innovations such as the Family Treatment Court, the Electronic Filing pilot project, and the Integrated Justice Information System. Felony indictments and reinstatements and transferred case filings decreased by 8 percent from 1998 to 2002. For the first time in over 5 years, the U.S. Misdemeanor caseload activity increased over the previous year. The 10,456 cases assigned to the Civil Actions caseload in 2002 was the largest number of cases added to the caseload in more than 5 years.