Reducing Time To Resolution in Felony Cases

Early in my administration, as we were deep into the short-term impacts of COVID on our court system, my office began to closely monitor the timely resolution of cases, and we didn’t like what we were seeing. Much like the rest of the country, the time it took to resolve cases shot up when COVID hit, and unfortunately it kept rising. This was not good news. We know from experience that as time drags on, victims can lose faith in the system, witnesses might move away or be more reluctant to participate, and defendants have delays before getting into needed interventions like treatment.

For felony cases in Q1 of 2020, right before the impacts of COVID, the median time for felonies to resolve was 199 days – relatively consistent with where it had been the previous 3 years. Throughout 2020, many courts, including ours, struggled with either full or partial closures, restrictions on the ability to conduct jury trials, and other logistical challenges. By 3rd Quarter of 2020, the median time to resolution had increased to 278 days, meaning the average felony case took nearly three months longer to resolve. That ultimately peaked at the end of our COVID closures in Q4 of 2021 at 302 days.

Fortunately, our office was equipped with the tools in this data dashboard and we took action, sharing guidance internally and working with other criminal justice stakeholders including the courts, defense bar, and our law enforcement partners. The goal was not to rush the process or limit anyone’s access to rights, but simply to move cases through the system more efficiently by limiting unnecessary delays and reducing the time between court appearances. While we still have a ways to go towards our efficiency goals, I wanted to update you on our progress.

We’ve seen a steady downward trend in the time it takes to resolve a case since Q4 of 2021. Our data for the 1st quarter of 2024 shows that median time to resolution is at 227 days, a 75 day reduction from the peak. Click here for all of our data on case resolutions and timeliness. We’ve also worked to reduce the timeliness of our dismissal of felony cases. If we can’t ethically pursue the case, we want to dismiss it relatively quickly so we don’t subject the defendant to unnecessary consequences, and so we don’t utilize our limited resources on cases where we can’t be successful. This is also consistent with our ethical obligations – if we cannot prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt, we must dismiss it. This particular metric peaked at 322 days back in Q4 of 2020, and is now down at 219 days.

While we’ve made progress, we know there is always room for improvement and greater efficiency. We will strive to build on this progress in the coming months.