House Journal: Page 80: Wednesday, January 13, 1999

	In Polk County district court, the state's busiest courthouse, the number of felony 

drug cases and class A felony cases have quadrupled since 1990.  Because of the high 
felony caseload, there is an eight to nine week delay from entry of a guilty verdict until 
sentence in these most serious cases.
This session as you consider tougher penalties or sentencing options, please 
understand that due, in part, to a shortage of judges we cannot carry out sentencing in 
as timely a manner as basic justice clearly demands.
Like the criminal caseload, our trial courts are also struggling with a burdensome 
juvenile caseload.  And we anticipate more pressure on the juvenile docket in the near 
future as we implement new state and federal time lines to move children out of foster 
care faster and into permanent homes.
There are special problems in the juvenile court.
In Benton County, for example, where a judge is available for juvenile cases a little 
more than two days per month, juvenile hearings are scheduled every fifteen minutes.  
According to Judge Susan Flaherty who hears cases in Benton County and surrounding 
counties, "We have attempted to deal with the increase by improving efficiency in 
scheduling and reducing hearing time allotted to each case and doing more reviews on 
paper.  I am always concerned that by spending less time on individual cases, we are 
shortchanging the kids and families."
Judge Flaherty's concern is well taken.  Imagine how the families must feel, when, 
because of inadequate resources, their day in court is reduced to minutes.  We simply 
must provide a climate in which justice is not rationed by use of a stopwatch.
Although present difficulties in the criminal and juvenile dockets take priority, we 
certainly cannot ignore civil cases.  Nearly one-half of the trial courts' civil docket is 
composed of domestic relations cases, which include dissolution of marriage, contempt, 
modification of dissolution, and uniform child support cases.  These are important 
cases. But because criminal and juvenile cases must be given highest priority, domestic 
relations cases must wait in line.  Other segments of the civil docket such as property 
disputes, personal injury suits, and business litigation, must wait longer.   
To keep criminal and juvenile cases moving in Polk County, two district court 
judges are being moved from the general trial assignment.  One judge is being assigned 
to juvenile cases and the other is being assigned to criminal cases.  This shift will have 
a ripple effect on the civil docket.  Previously, parties in dissolution of marriage cases 
had to wait about nine months for a trial.  Now, they will have to wait even longer.
We have no control over the number of cases presented.  Nor should we.  To limit 
the number of cases would be to limit the ability of Iowans to have meaningful access 
to justice.
Some might suggest we can temporarily relieve the pressure in the criminal and 
juvenile dockets by shifting judges here and there.  But this is simply reorganizing the 
deck chairs.  It is not even an effective temporary solution, much less a long term 
solution.  Efficiency measures and aggressive case management have been 
implemented, but can only do so much, because even the most productive judges can 
carefully decide only a certain number of cases each day.  There is no escape from 
simple arithmetic:  As long as the demand for justice grows, we will need more judges.  

© 1999 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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Last update: Thu Jul 15 13:40:03 CDT 1999
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