Delays in Juvenile Justice

136 Pages·09.27 MB·English

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National Center for Juvenile Justice
710 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15219-3000
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Delays in Juvenile Justice
Jeffrey A. Butts
Gregory J. Halemba
Delays ni Juvenile Justice Sanctions Project
Final Report
August 1996
Copyright 1996
National Center for Juvenile Justice
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This report was prepared by the National Center for Juvenile Justice, the research division of the
National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and was supported by grant #92-JN-CX-0002
from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, U.S.
Department of Justice.
Points of view or opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily
represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
k
Copyright 1996
National Center for Juvenile Justice
710 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15219-3000
412-227-6950
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Table of Contents
Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................................... vii
PREFACE .............................................................. : ....... : ........................................................... ~ ................. ix
INTRODUCTION .......................... i ............................................ ~ ................. .......... ......... .......... . ................. xi
CHAPTER 1. DELAY IN THE JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM
by Jeffrey A. Butts
INTRODUCTION 1
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COURT DELAY ................................................................................................................ I
Effects of Delay ...................... . .................. . ........................................ ................... 3
Time and the Effectiveness of Juvenile Court Sanctions 3
Adolescents as Defendants ..................................................................................... 4
CONTROLLING DELAY .................................................................................................. 5
Direct Inducements to Control Delay .................................................................... 5
Management Interventions to Control Delay ......................................................... 7
CONTROLLING DELAY IN THE JUVENILE COURT .................................................... 9
Constitutional Provisions ...................................................................................... 9
Legislation and Rules in the Juvenile Court ............................... ~ ........................ 11
Case Law and Juvenile Court Processing Time ................................................... 11
Time Standards in Juvenile Court ....................................................................... 15
Management Interventions in the Juvenile Court ................................................ 18
CONCLUSION ................ . ............................................................................................... 19-
CHAPTER 2. THE CAUSES OF DELAY
by Jeffrey A. Butts
INTRODUCTION 21
THE CONCEPT OF DELAY ........................................................................................... 21
Measuring Delay ............................................................................................ . .... 21
CAUSAL FACTORS IN DELAY ..................................................................................... 24
Resources/Workload ........................................................................................... 25
Jurisdiction Size ............................................. . ............... . .................................... 26
Case Characteristics ............................................................................................ 26
The Role of Counsel ....................... . .................................................................... 28
Procedures .......................................................................................................... 29
Management and Organization .......... ..................................................... ............ 31
APPLYING ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY TO COURT DELAY ................................. 33
The Human Relations School .............................................................................. 33
The Environmental School .................................................................................. 34
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................. .... 36
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Delays in Juvenile Justice
CHAPTER 3. NATIONAL SURVEY OF DELINQUENCY DELAYS
by Jeffrey A. Butts and Gregory J. Halemba
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 41
METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................... 41
Study Sample .................................................................................... : ................ 41
Data Collection .................................................................................................. 41
RESULTS ........................................................................................................................ 42
Satisfaction With Case Processing Time ............................................................. 42
Case Processing Stages ....................................................................................... 43
ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS ................................................................... 44
Court Workload .................................................................................................. 45
Resources ........................................................... . ................................... :: .......... 45
Caseflow Management ....................................................................................... 47
Calendaring ........... . ........................................................................................... 48
Procedural Issues That Affect Case Flow ............................................................ 48
Staff Attitudes .................................................................................................... 48
Legal Environment ............................................................................................. 49
ORGANIZATIONAL PROBLEMS AND DISSATISFACTION WITH ........................... 49
CASE PROCESSING TIME
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 52
CHAPTER 4. CASE PROCESSING IN 3 JUVENILE COURTS
by Gregory J. Halemba and Jeffrey A. Butts
INTRODUCTION ............................................................ i ............................................... 55
BALTIMORE CITY: LEGISLATING DELAY REDUCTION ............... . ....... :. ............... 57
Delinquency Case Processing ............................................................................. 58
Ongoing Challenges ................................................................. ~ ..... ................... 58
CUYAHOGA COUNTY: LABOR-INTENSIVE DELAY REDUCTION ........................ 59
Juvenile Court Workload Statistics ..................................................................... 59
Delinquency Case Processing ............................................................................. 61
Improving the Management of Caseflow ..................................................... : ...... 63
Efforts to Facilitate Timely Processing of Detention Cases .................................. 64
Continuing Impediments to Timely Case Processing .......................................... 66
Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 68
MARICOPA COUNTY: CONTROLLING DELAYS WITH AUTOMATION ................ 68
Juvenile Court Workload Statistics ....................... .............................................. 69
Stable Leadership ............................................................................................... 70
Court Automation and Caseflow Management .................................................... 70
Studies and Experimentation .............................................................................. 80
Conclusion ......................................... ................................................................ 81
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CHAPTER 5. NATIONAL PATTERNS IN DELINQUENCY CASE PROCESSING
by Jeffrey A. Butts • .
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 85
SPEED OF THE JUVENILE COURT PROCESS 85
CASE PROCESSING IN THE JUVENILE COURT ......................................................... 85
Case Processing Stages 86
SOURCE OF DATA ........................................................................................................ 87
Sample Size .............................................. : ......................................................... 88
RESULTS ' " 88
Time to Disposition ............................................................................................ 90
Distribution of Processing Time ...................................... . .................. -- ............... 92
Jurisdictional Variations in Processing Time ....................................................... 94
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 102
CHAPTER 6. IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
by Jeffrey A. Butts
CRITICAL MOMENTS 105
REDUCING DELAY 106
Juvenile Justice Standards ................................................................................. 107
Caseflow Management ...................................................................................... 109
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. I I0
REFERENCES
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COURT CASES CITED ............................................................................................................................ 118
APPENDIX ............................................................................................................................................... 121
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Tables and Figures
CHAPTER 1
Table 1.1: Time limits (in days) for juvenile court adjudication and disposition .... ..., ......................... 12
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hearings in cases not involving proceedings for transfer to criminal court
Table 1.2: Time limits on juvenile court handling of delinquency cases .............................................. 13
considered for transfer to criminal court
Table 1.3: Time limitations provided by various juvenile justice standards ........................................ 18
CHAPTER 3
Table 3.1: Survey response rate by type of respondent 42
Table 3.2: Proportion of respondents expressing dissatisfaction with the timeliness ........................... 43
of case processing, by type of delinquency case, by type of respondent
Table3.3: Proportion of respondents expressing dissatisfaction with the amount ............................... 44
of time needed to process delinquency cases, by stage of processing,
by type of respondent
Table 3.4: Proportion of respondents acknowledging a "moderate" or "serious" . ............................... 46
problem with organizational and procedural characteristics in
their juvenile court
Table 3.5: Correlation betweeh respondents' perception of organizational/procedural ....................... 50
problems and general dissatisfaction with delinquency case processing time
CHAPTER 4
Table 4.1: Delinquency cases disposed in three jurisdictions, 1986-1993 .......................................... 56
Table 4.2: Cuyahoga County juvenile court workload statistics ........................................................... 60
Table 4.3: Disposition rate for official delinquency cases and unruly cases, 1986-1994 ...................... 61
Table 4.4: Time frames for processing of.detained and non-detained delinquency cases ..................... 62
Table 4.5: Maricopa County juvenile court delinquency workload statistics .................................... ...~ 69
Figure 4. I: Maricopa county juvenile court center delinquency calendar summary report .. .................. 78
Period: 09--01-94 to 09-30-94
Figure 4.2: Maricopa county juvenile court delinquency calendar detailed report (sample output) ....... 79
Period: 09-01-94 to 09-30-94
Delays in Juvenile Justice
Figure 4.3: Maricopa county juvenile court pending petition information report .................................. 79
Period: 09-01-94 to 09-30-94
'Figure 4.4: Maricopa county juvenile court delinquency petitions pending 360+ days ......................... 80
detail report (sample output) Period: 09--01-94 to 09-30-94
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CHAPTER 5
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Table 5.1: Characteristics of delinquency cases handled during 1991 and 1992 by ............................ 89
juvenile courts in 394 large LI.S. counties, compared with 1992 national
delinquency estimates
Table 5.2: Days elapsed between referral and final disposition for delinquency cases ...... : .................. 91
handled during 1991 and 1992 by juvenile courts in sample counties
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Figure 5.1: Rate of disposition f6r 1991 and 1992 delinquency cases processed 92
by juvenile courts in sample counties (N=524,713)
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Figure 5.2: Rate of disposition for 1991 and 1992 delinquency cases in sample ...................... ............. 93
counties, by county population
Figure 5.3: Rate of disposition for formally adjudicated 1991 and 1992 delinquency .......................... 94 I
cases in sample counties, by county population
Table 5.3: Average median disposition times for sample counties, by annual ..................... i ............... 96
number of petitioned cases
Table 5.4: Average median disposition times in sample counties, by annual ....... . .............................. 97
case rate and the presence of State controls (court rules or legislation)
on the timing of case processing
Figure 5.4: Median days to disposition for petitioned cases, by annual case rate ................................. 98
Table 5.5: Descriptive statistics for county-aggregate variables used in multiple ' 99
regression analyses of disposition time for petitioned delinquency cases
Table 5.6: OLS regression of county-aggregate disposition time on demographic ............................. 101
case processing, and legal characteristics of county
CHAPTER 6
Figure 6.1: Fictitious example of comprehensive, component-based, graduated case ......................... 108
processing time standards for juvenile justice agencies
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This study was supported by funds provided to Hon. Sharon McCully--Third Judicial • District
the National Center for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ), the Court, Salt Lake City, Utah
research division of the National Council of
Dr.Edward Mulvey--Law dna Psychiatry
. L • Juvenile and Family Court Judges, by the U.S.
Program, Western Psychiatriclnstitute and
tnemtrapeD of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice
Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of
dna Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) through
Medicine
tnarg number 92-JN-CX-0002. The OJJDP
program manager was .rM Jeffrey Slowikowski. Ms. Joyce Wright--Chief, Juvenile Division,
State's Attorney's Office for Baltimore City,
The research described in this report was
Baltimore, Maryland
developed in consultation with the members of a
yrosivdi~?lanoitan committee. Members of this Assistance was provided by staff members at
committee included: the National Center for Juvenile Justice, including
Ms. Eleanor Austin--Director of Court Services Imogene Montgomery, Hunter ,VI_tsruH Diane
(Retired), Wayne County Probate Court, Malloy, Gail Rico, dna Angela Sanders. Legal
Detroit, Michigan research was performed yb Linda Szymanski.
Comments dna suggestions were provided by
.rD Carol Burgess--Former Deputy Director,
Hunter Hurst III, Melissa Sickmund, and Howard
Maricopa County Juvenile Court, Phoenix,
Snyder of .JJCN
Arizona
This work would not have been possible
Hon. Cheryl Allen Craig--Family Division, without the cooperation of the juvenile justice
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, professionals who were interviewed yb the project
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania staff, those who took the time to complete the
project's mailed survey, sa well as those who
.rM David Fishkin---Chief, Juvenile Division,
regularly contribute data to NCJJ's National
Baltimore City Office of the Public Defender,
Juvenile Court Data Archive. Their efforts are
Baltimore, Maryland
gratefully acknowledged.
.rM John Howley--Assignment Services Manager,
Points of view or opinions expressed in this
Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas,
document era those of eht authors dna do not
Cleveland, Ohio
represent the official position or policies of the
Ms. Kim Kelly----Juvenile Court Administrator, U.S. Department of Justice, the National Council
Maricopa County Juvenile Court, Phoenix, of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, or the
Arizona National Center for Juvenile Justice.
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