Judicial Council mulls how to streamline court proceedings

Reflecting on a tumultuous year, the Judicial Council on Friday discussed how to move forward with several initiatives to make court proceedings more efficient and what lessons to draw from the pandemic.

In her remarks at the start of the meeting, California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye said, "We can and will innovate more to enhance services."

"We can and will support our local communities even more," Cantil-Sakauye said. "And now, a year plus later, we have an opportunity to leverage the knowledge and the lessons we learned from being able to conduct business during the pandemic, with input from all who lived through it -- our justice partners and the public -- and to be able to continue to refine and enhance court practices."

In the past year, California courts have grappled with technological and infrastructural disparities. Social distancing requirements have also meant that fewer trials have been able to proceed.

In January, Los Angeles County's then presiding judge, Kevin Brazile, said the superior court had a backlog of at least 7,000 criminal cases. The court then announced new policies on contact tracing on Jan. 15 after a clerk and an interpreter died from the virus.

To continue to modernize courts, the council on Friday approved a plan to enhance electronic access to courts and court services. The plan is a continuation of initiatives that started in 2012. It would expand remote video appearances, language access technology, online self-help services, e-filing and online dispute resolution.

The plan also added a new digital court ecosystem aimed at streamlining work between justice agencies.

"Although there's only one new initiative, there's still a terrific amount of work being done on the existing projects," San Bernardino County Judge Kyle S. Brodie said during the meeting. "And also, that's just a reflection of some of the resource challenges right now facing the branch and were really acute when the plan was being drafted."

The council also discussed recent legislation that would transfer responsibility for managing all juvenile offenders from the state to local jurisdictions. Under SB 823, the intake of new juvenile offenders to the Division of Juvenile Justice will stop on July 1.

An anticipated trailer bill will require the council to work with stakeholders to create an offense classification matrix by July 2023. Judge Jerilyn L. Borack of Sacramento County noted there had been a significant decline in the population in existing county juvenile facilities.

As a result of this, Borack said more facilities were available for counties to repurpose to house youth offenders.

"The 2021 budget has provided $9.6 million for grants to counties to make these modifications," Borack said.

The council also discussed a report on mental illness in criminal court.

According to Francine Byrne, manager at Criminal Justice Services, close to 40% of inmates have had a mental illness in their lifetime. Byrne said some 83% of jailed individuals with serious mental illness do not have adequate access to treatment.

"That means they're leaving the jails and prisons even worse than they came in," Byrne said. "This results in an enormous drain on resources for the entire justice system, including the courts."

Byrne also said the pandemic appears to have heightened the crisis.

The report suggested more support to collaborative justice courts and discharge planning to help with housing and mental health after a defendant has been released.