NCJ Number
118960
Journal
State Court Journal Volume: 13 Issue: 3 Dated: (Summer 1989) Pages: 19-23
Date Published
1989
Length
5 pages
Annotation
After describing the process for generating 149 ideas to reduce court case processing time, this article presents some of the ideas for reducing court delay and congestion and addressing various components of the problem.
Abstract
Eight State court administrators, members of their administrative staffs, and trial or appellate judges from four States participated in a project to generate ideas to reduce court delay and congestion. A package of computer programs derived from 16 major databases was used to generate 315 ideas. Each participant screened the ideas based upon a systematic assessment format. A total of 149 concepts were deemed worthy of implementation. Among the ideas for reducing court delay and congestion are (1) to reach a consensus among all court actors about what constitutes court delays; (2) to conduct a study that determines who uses trial time; and (3) to establish a form that would be incorporated into all trial case records to reflect demographic, sociological, and case information about the litigant. Other ideas presented pertain to publicizing success, using volunteers, developing better data, expanding education, encouraging innovation, enhancing the use of automation, improving the role of judges, and maximizing human resources. 1 note.