In a workable system, for example, the public defender does not need
to be in two places at once. The sheriff has the court schedule and
can plan coverage and travel accordingly. Because resource schedules
do not conflict, even a limited number of support staff can effectively
administer a moderately-sized court and docket.
Under this system, scheduling is managed by court staff and not
the parties. Scheduling conflicts can be moved to the next pre-
determined time slot where needed resources will be available. The
cases essentially schedule themselves. Any “downtime” is not shared
by the court, which has other cases scheduled. A court is able to
adjust to fluctuations in case filings. For example, courts may see
multiple criminal jury trials set for the same week. By the date of
trial, almost all of the cases will settle, but ample time exists for cases
needed to be tried. To begin building a workable system, start with
these steps:
First, list the resources needed for each type of hearing in your court.
For example:
Criminal Jury Trial
• 1 judge
• 1 court reporter
• 1 clerk
• Appropriate jury courtroom
• Sheriff ’s deputies
• State’s attorney
• Defense counsel
• Defendant
• Witnesses
• Jurors
• Bailiffs
Mental Health Hearing
• 1 judge
• 1 court reporter
• ITV courtroom
• Ability to transport
from/to hospital
• State’s attorney
• Public defender
• Respondents
• Sheriff ’s deputies
• Doctors –
(4 different hospitals)
After completing the list for each of your hearing types, list the total
resources actually possessed by your district. For example:
Quantity available
within Court System
Resource
Judges
9
Court reporters
10
Judicial referees
2
Secure jury courtrooms 2
Secure jury courtroom w/ ITV capability 1
Non-secure courtroom with ITV 1
Non-secure jury courtroom with ITV 1
Standard jury courtrooms 3
“Bench-only” courtrooms 2
Remote county courthouses 2
Public defenders (main courthouse) 8
Public defender (for both remote
courthouses) 1
2
Ultimately, the goal is to build a scheduling framework, based on the
availability of the resources, by using the newly-created need/have
lists to avoid resource pinch points.
A Capable System
The concept of capacity is closely related to functionality. Capacity
in the judicial sense is not determined merely by the number of
cases a court can hear at a time, capacity must also be measured
by how many cases can be scheduled and resolved in a timely
manner. Every judicial district is faced with a never-ending stream
of cases. A capable court system is able to maximize the number of
cases it schedules, hears, and disposes of, within the availability of
limited court staff and other resources. The dates a court sets must
be so likely to occur that the parties consider them to be “certain.”
The court needs to use the fewest number of days to resolve the
most possible number of cases. A “capable” case resolution system
must accomplish three things: (1) the system must be capable of
scheduling all the necessary events; (2) the system must be capable of
hearing all necessary events; and (3) the system must account for the
capacity of all necessary resources.
As with functionality, capacity can be aided by the authority of the
court to set the rules regarding time and scheduling and empowering
court staff to maintain the system. For example, if a criminal case is
to be completed in 180 days, every new case must be placed on a path
to be completed well within that timeframe.
A capable system creates certainty and is able to handle fluctuations
in case load. For example, consider any one specific case type. Let
us assume for every one hundred cases of this type, experience says
on average only one will go to trial. There are not enough days in
the year with your other work to schedule each of the one hundred
cases to its own individual trial day. Worse yet, even if you could, on
average 99 percent of these event slots would be wasted, along with
your allocated resources, when those cases settle. Unknown, however,
is which one of the hundred cases will actually go to trial and which
ones will settle. What do you do? What if, by chance, two cases go to
trial?
Maintaining the system’s capacity to hear all necessary events
depends on balancing between the number of cases the court needs
to set and the number of cases a court traditionally hears. A capable
system will provide for more capacity than is historically needed –
possibly several times more. Over the course of a year, more than
enough times will exist to handle all unsettled cases, but the court
maintains a limit on the times it schedules hearings. When done
correctly, even a substantial fluctuation in dockets can be handled
without any changes to the system. Litigants will need to treat their
scheduled dates as “certain” because of the high likelihood the court
will get to their case.
Finally, a capable system accounts for and conserves the capacity
of all other necessary resources. To help determine the necessary
capacity for your situation, list the different types of proceedings you
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