Mollie Bryant Criminal Justice, News

The pandemic left courts with case backlogs. Here’s how some communities are coping.

In June last year, Florida’s court system had a backlog of 600,000 cases. Court shutdowns due to covid had left courts across the country with high numbers of pending cases, sometimes stacked on top of backlogs that pre-dated the pandemic.

By April, Florida courts had cut their pending cases by about a third. But Nellie King, a criminal defense attorney and president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said backlogs continue to strain the state’s courts.

“It’s a pressurized situation that’s impacting everybody in the criminal legal system,” she said.

Some courts around the nation have eliminated or chipped away at their backlogs, often while tapping into federal covid relief funds targeting court systems.

In communities where backlogs remain, high caseloads can fuel turnover in public defender and prosecutor offices. Turnover there can also slow cases and add to backlogs.

In Florida, King said staffing shortages in state’s attorney and public defense offices have slowed cases.

“We have difficulty getting prosecutors on the phone because of that high turnover,” King said. “Then if we do have somebody on the case, because they are so committed to trials or other courtroom obligations, we have difficulty getting into court to schedule a hearing.”

How state courts have reduced their backlogs

Some communities have dealt with pandemic backlogs by holding extra hearings. Kristen Trebil-Halbersma, a managing director for the National Center for State Courts’ consulting services division, said a lot of courts have hired retired or senior judges to hear extra cases, and some courts are running additional dockets through virtual hearings.

A 2020 National Center for State Courts study found that the biggest cause of delayed cases was continuances. The center recommends courts track data on things like continuances and clearance rates to identify issues and ensure the system moves as efficiently as possible.

Some courts, including those in Arkansas, have used American Rescue Plan Act money to fund temporary attorney positions in public defender and prosecutor offices.

Trebil-Halbersma said that approach has worked in places where turnover in those offices has been a barrier to moving cases forward.

“All aspects of the system need to be funded appropriately in order for it to be efficient and effective,” she said. “So it’s not just about funding the courts; it’s funding all of the different entities that work within the court. You can’t have one that’s underfunded because it’s going to impact everybody.”

[ Read more: Criminal court backlogs delay trials while defendants spend longer in jail ]

Communication between everyone involved also is vital. Alexis White, spokesperson for Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn, said one of the reasons the Oklahoma county doesn’t have a backlog is because of the court’s case management system. Judges, prosecutors and public defenders regularly meet to discuss caseloads and other case management issues.

“We have all three of those entities working together, representing different interests,” White said, “And we do work together to push and strive for an efficient court process.”

Contact BigIfTrue.org editor Mollie Bryant at 405-990-0988 or bryant@bigiftrue.org. Follow her on Twitter.

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Learn more from the National Center for State Courts: