House Journal: Page 43: Wednesday, January 14, 1998

After I finish my remarks, we hope you can join the other judges
and me for coffee and conversation downstairs in our courtroom. 
We can get better acquainted there.
We regard this address as one of the most important things I do.
 It is our opportunity to share with you an assessment of the
administration of justice in Iowa; in other words, it is an
account of our stewardship.  I trust you will conclude, as I
have, that the past year has been exciting, marked by
significant milestones for Iowa's court system.  
You should be aware of a number of important trends.  So far as
we have been able to learn, none of them are related to El Nino. 
During the past few years, you have been told of our struggles
to keep up with the rising tide of criminal cases pouring into
the courts.  I am pleased to announce that after ten years of
dramatic growth, the number of indictable criminal case filings
decreased slightly last year.  We do not know the reasons for
the sudden change in this long-term trend, so we are only
cautiously optimistic.  But if the rate of criminal filings
continues to slow, it will ease some of the pressure on our
courts, jails and prisons. 
However, I must report that the news about our overall caseload
is mixed.  I won't burden you with all the numbers.  Information
about the caseload is detailed in the appendix to these remarks. 
We're concerned about the growing backlog of cases in the
appellate courts.  In the past ten years, filings in our
appellate courts increased over twenty percent; twice as fast as
dispositions.  Parties appealing civil cases involving
contracts, personal injury, and administrative law must wait
seventeen months from the time of filing the notice of appeal to
a decision.  Typically, these cases are ready to be submitted to
the court within ten months.  But because cases involving
children, crimes and certain other matters take precedence, the
civil cases must wait in line to be heard.
While it appears that appeals will continue to increase in the
foreseeable future, the number of dispositions per judge cannot
continue to increase without negatively affecting the quality of
justice.  The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals are working
together to come up with solutions to cope with the volume, and
we'll keep you posted.
We are especially concerned this year about the trend in
juvenile cases.  No work of the courts is more important.  Since
1991, juvenile case filings have increased nearly forty percent.
 What do these numbers mean?  For one thing it clearly means
increasing demands on our juvenile court system_a system already
in real need of repair.
This is not to say our hard-working juvenile court system is
devoid of innovative tools to help rescue troubled children. 
One of our brightest examples is the CASA program.
A CASA is a trained volunteer who advocates in court for abused
and neglected children.  Each CASA volunteer works closely with
a child and the child's family to gather information about their
personal life.  This information, which is furnished to the
court in written reports and courtroom testimony, provides the
court with extra insight about the child's circumstances.

© 1998 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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Last update: Thu Jan 15 13:40:05 CST 1998
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