Court Backlog

Project Description

Addressing the criminal case backlog generated by pauses during the pandemic is key to ensuring speedy access to trial for defendants and victims. ARPA funding is dedicated to increasing the speed and efficiency of these operations. Funds were allocated to accelerate evidence processing and provide additional court space, judges, jury services, court staff, and attorneys to mitigate impacts of the pandemic-related court backlog. Funding supports the development of a pretrial analytics database and a program to quickly bring one-time, low-level offenses to disposition. Additionally, ARPA funding is helping to improve forensic science staff retention efforts and support elevated pathology and decedent transport needs. Further, funds support the Children’s Assessment Center in addressing child abuse through a digital conversion project, upgraded technology, single-session therapy, new staff, and training sessions. Both defendants and survivors of crimes have been negatively impacted by having cases remain unheard for long periods of time. Overall, the key outcome goals are reducing exposure to the criminal justice system and increasing the speed of access to a hearing or trial. Impacts of funding are measured in terms of the decrease in number of court cases in the backlog, improvements in the average time to case disposition, number of backlog cases disposed, clearance rates, contribution to backlog cases by emergency response dockets, associate judge dockets, and case management analysts. Progress in staff hiring and retention is also being tracked.

The Court Backlog project is a Revenue Replacement program designed to support Harris County in reducing and responding to the negative economic impacts resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the pandemic, courts experienced interruptions to court operations, which, combined with elevated levels of crime occurring during the pandemic, led to a significant court backlog. Harris County’s multi-faceted approach will allow the County to expand jury operations, provide additional staffing of court judges, and access additional resources, ultimately reducing the backlog. The pandemic caused the Country Criminal Courts at Law to limit trial activity, adding to the backlog of jury trials. Expanding jury operations will allow for addressing the pending jury cases. Harris County’s Emergency Response Dockets (ERDs) address judicial backlogs; therefore, expenses related to additional visiting judges, hired support staff, and purchasing necessary equipment allow ERDs to appropriately address the backlog. Additionally, the discovery of evidence has been a significant contributor to the backlog, and hiring temporary staff to process evidence would allow for an expedited discovery process. Additional staffing is also required in areas of programming to modernize evidence intake procedures, including evidence review personnel at the District Attorney’s Office, and support staff for operations to help expediently address the court backlog. Adding six associate judge positions and one judge position would also allow for the alleviation of the court backlog and improve the efficiency of the process.

PRIMARY PARTNERSHIPS

TARGET IMPACT

This project prioritizes initiatives that reduce cases in the backlog (cases older than 180 days for misdemeanors and 360 days for felonies) and lower the time to case disposition—while protecting due process through initiatives that reduce the number of individuals in jail awaiting hearing by raising court system efficiency on a long-term basis together with near-term increases in court system capacity.

The following actions have been taken to address the current court case backlog:

  • Providing additional space and resources for jury panels
  • Addition of visiting judges and associate staff to increase the Court’s capacity to hear and move backlogged, serious felony cases
  • Addition of visiting judges and associated staff to increase the Court’s capacity to hear and move backlogged, misdemeanor cases
  • Addition of temporary staff to process backlogged body-worn camera evidence requests from the Houston Police Department and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office
  • Addition of temporary positions for processing of backlog of 911 requests from the Houston Emergency Call Center and the Harris County Sheriff's Office
  • Additional public defenders to process the increasing caseloads
  • Request for addition of associate judges to aid with some of the "administrative" portions of case management for District Courts
  • Request for additional staff to process evidence requests at the DA's office
  • An overtime program for the DAO to review cases, complete To Do’s, and make plea offers

WEBSITE LINK

USE OF EVIDENCE & PROGRAM EVALUATIONS

Harris County’s multi-faceted approach to reducing the court case backlog includes investments in every segment of the justice pipeline, including system intake, case preparation, case disposition, and case management. Jury services and jury facilities were expanded, which included establishing additional jury operations at NRG Stadium and in the Family Law Center. The District Attorney’s Office (DAO) instituted an overtime hours project for assistant district attorneys (ADAs) and investigators in which they reviewed backlog felony and misdemeanor cases and made plea offers, in addition to submitting a backlog of older cases for filing. Six associate judges and supporting staff were added to the District Courts to handle pretrial hearings and events, and funding was approved for the DAO and Harris County Sheriff’s Office for evidence management. The discovery of evidence has been a significant contributor to the backlog, so hiring temporary staff to process and manage a backlog of body-worn camera requests, to process 911 calls, and to integrate digital evidence systems has helped expedite the progress of backlog cases. Funding for decedent transport, pathology contract work, and an overtime initiative for the Institute of Forensic Science also reduces the case backlog through timely provision of laboratory reports and autopsies required by the DAO and law enforcement. ARPA-funded ERDs are also leveraged as tools to reduce the case backlog. Two District Court ERDs manage pretrial hearings for bond and in-custody cases, and two Emergency Response Trial Dockets (ERTDs) can include trials for all criminal case types. Two misdemeanor ERDs operate as a trial impact court and a pretrial docket for domestic violence cases filed in the County Criminal Courts at Law. Adding four District Court Case Management Analyst positions improves the efficiency of the process, from initiation through final case disposition.