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Court case management in indian country

 Court Case Management in Indian Country Criminal justice workers in both Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions were asked to ...




 Court Case Management in Indian Country Criminal justice workers in both Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions were asked to respond to a series of questions about the logistics of their caseloads and issues related to caseload management and dispositions.


 Some questions were specifically crafted to investigate case-processing decisions of prosecutors, while public defenders and probation officers also responded to specific inquires about their case management and processes. We hope that these data will provide additional insight into decision-making processes and case dispositions for cases involving Indian defendants and victims. Differences between Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 jurisdiction in case management and disposition are investigated. How Heavy Is the Caseload? Criminal justice workers in Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions were asked: Can you estimate the number of cases you deal with that involve Indian victims or defendants? 


Two groups of criminal justice workers commenting on state/county (N=39) and non-Public Law 280 tribal (N=19) courts provide enough responses to discuss. The data, however, are difficult to interpret: The respondents reporting on non-Public Law 280 courts estimate cases per year, while probation officers, judges, and prosecutors, community advocates and public defenders have different patterns of caseloads. Community advocates and public defenders in non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions usually have relatively low caseloads, ranging from 10 to 15 Indian cases per year. The Indian caseloads for non-Public Law 280 probation officers range from 50 to 4,000, and the cases loads for non-Public Law 280 judges and prosecutors range from 225 to 3,000 Indian cases per year. It’s difficult to determine a pattern for the non-Public Law 280 caseload data, since many factors may contribute to caseload size. Public Law 280 criminal justice workers (N=39) commenting on caseload numbers for state/county courts provide some comparative data with non-Indian state/county court caseloads. Some respondents gave average caseload estimates. In this subset of responses, probation officers say their caseloads are average, or others say they range between 12 and 200 Indian cases per year. These data are based on 3 respondents and most likely are not reliable indicators. 


Several Public Law 280 state/county judges and prosecutors (n=6) say that their caseloads range from 20 to 1000, but most caseloads are reported in the under-200 range. One community advocate said they handle 10 cases each year on average; one public defender served 12 clients; and a small public defender office says they manage about 144 cases involving Indian clients annually. These data are based on too few respondents to be reliable, but they indicate a somewhat smaller caseload than criminal justice workers report for non-Public Law 280 tribal courts. 254 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. Most Public Law 280 criminal justice responses (n=25) are in estimated percentages of total caseload, containing Indian and non-Indian cases, and with some comment on whether the percentages of Indian cases were proportionate or disproportionate within their general caseload population. Nineteen Public Law 280 criminal justice respondents (48.7%) say that they handle a disproportionately high percentage of Indian cases compared to non-Indian cases. 


The percentages given range from 5% to 95%. Seven Public Law 280 criminal justice workers (17.9%) say that they do not handle a disproportionate number of Indian cases compared to nonIndian cases in the state/county court or legal service system. Seven Public Law 280 respondents (17.9%) could not answer the questions, suggesting some uncertainty over the magnitude of Indian caseloads in state/county courts. The Indian caseload data do not yield easy or direct comparisons between Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions. Perhaps the only reliable result from these data are that 48.7%, nearly half, of Public Law 280 criminal justice court and legal personnel say their Indian caseloads are disproportionately higher than non-Indian cases. Do Cases Move Fast Enough? Criminal justice respondents were asked: Do you feel that cases move fast enough through the court system where you work? There were very few responses to the question, but 17 non-Public Law 280 criminal justice personnel commented on how fast cases moved though the tribal courts. Three non-Public Law 280 criminal justice workers (23.5%) say that cases do not move quickly enough through tribal courts. They say that alcohol-related cases, case backlogs, and the unwillingness of witnesses to testify all contribute to the slow processing of tribal cases. 


Thirteen non-Public Law 280 criminal justice respondents (76.5%) say that cases move through tribal courts in a speedy manner. Most non-Public Law 280 criminal justice respondents say that cases move through tribal courts at acceptable speeds. There are not enough data to make comparisons to Public Law 280 jurisdictions. Which Cases Take the Most Time and Resources? Criminal justice court and legal personnel in Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions were asked: What types of cases require more time and resources? Thirty-eight criminal justice workers in Public Law 280 jurisdictions and 17 criminal justice workers in nonPublic Law 280 jurisdictions commented about the types of cases that took the most of their time and resources. In both groups of respondents, some commented about several types of cases that incurred excessive time and resources. For example, 1 Public Law 280 respondent said, “DUI, domestic violence, and alcohol-related felonies (and) assaults.” To get a profile of the types of cases that required more time and resources, we counted every time any type of case was mentioned. In the above quote, three types of cases emerge: alcohol-related cases, major crime cases involving felonies or assaults, and domestic violence cases. Usually the case issues are overlapping; for example, many crimes are reported linked to alcohol or drug abuse. The 255 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department.


 Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. respondents’ comments were counted three times: once for major crimes cases, once for alcoholrelated cases, and once for domestic crimes. In this way of counting, Public Law 280 criminal justice workers (38) mentioned time- and resource-consuming cases 70 times. Similarly, nonPublic Law 280 criminal justice workers (17) mentioned 30 times cases that were highly timeand resource-consuming. On average, respondents mentioned about two types of cases that were significantly time and resource consuming. To better understand the frequency and distribution of time- and resource-consuming cases, we will analyze how many times different types of cases are deemed time- and resource-consuming, and see whether any patterns or comparisons suggest overall trends or differences in Public Law 280 and non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions. Public Law 280 criminal justice workers describing the most time-consuming cases mention cases involving major crimes, violent crimes, felonies, assaults, and sexual assaults 25 times, or 35.7%, of the total number cases mentioned (70). For Public Law 280 criminal justice workers in state and county courts, cases involving major or violent crimes were mentioned most often as the most consuming of time and resources. Some comments on major crimes from Public Law 280 criminal justice workers include: Burglaries. Domestic violence, usually alcohol-related or drug-related cases. Battery cases. The serious felonies generally take more time. Well, for us, we do all criminal offenses from a legal left turn to murder. We haven’t done as many murder cases in the last couple of years because we are a small program, and our last murder case took three months, both one of the attorney’s time and the one legal assistant’s time out of a staff of eight, and that is, I guess, broken down to three attorneys and two legal assistants. And for us to just shut down for one case for a three-month period and (inaudible) staff on a full time basis is just kind of a large drain on resources itself. But felony cases take most of our time. ...


 Well, I guess, generally speaking, you know that more serious cases would take more time than misdemeanors and more serious felonies more time than less serious felonies. But, you know, I think, domestic violence crimes are always kind of difficult, as well as more serious property crimes and things of that nature. You know, I don’t know that I can answer that kind of question. Murders always take more time and resources than others. Children in need of protection or service ... the family-welfare cases where the child is a runaway or the child is into some other issue which is not safe for them or poses a danger to the community, not in a criminal way, requires a lot of time. 256 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. The second most frequently mentioned type of time-consuming cases are alcohol- and drug-related cases, which were mentioned 19 times (27.1%). Some comments include:


 Well, I think the drug cases ... because the way we handle the drug cases. ... Because that seems to be (a) prevalent offense, and they have them come in at least two a month into the office; we test, we do all those things. And, of course, then you have the chronic users who (are) always in the revolving door. And so, there is a lot of different activity that goes on with them… I think the ones where there is some type of substance abuse or alcohol abuse because a lot of time the condition of probation will be that a client (is) going to a program and that requires status reviews, and some of them do better in-program than others. So, if there are problems along the way, they call and explain what is going on with those, too. Drug and alcohol. Domestic violence. Sex offending. Drugs and major assaults, and assault-type behaviors ... Probably because the risk of going to prison is so much greater and more likely to be headed to trial than any other case, (like a) misdemeanor (is) not likely going to be going to trial. We could settle them a lot easier without spending a lot of time. Drug cases ... pretty intense follow-up … I would say the ones that are involved with use of alcohol.


 It has been my experience that ... whether the offense is an assault or a burglary, that a large percentage of them, the defendant has been using alcohol. If there is any common denominator for all types of offenses and difficulties, it’s the use of alcohol. Well, the alcohol-related offenses ... easily, 95% of my cases are alcohol related in that alcohol is the primary drug of use even by my drug-abusing clients. And those, of course, are the ones that we are spending most resources on trying to find ways of dealing with alcohol and other drug-abuse issues. Domestic violence as a type of case incurring significant time and resources is mentioned 11 times (15.7%) by Public Law 280 criminal justice workers. I would say definitely domestics ... and, obviously, domestic assaults or violations of orders for protection. Those kinds of prosecutions ... when you have a prosecution that has a victim, that in itself immediately adds additional resources and time because we have an obligation to, at least a good faith effort, to contact and reach the victim and gather input. In a domestic case, I think that gets 257 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. 


This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. multiplied maybe two or three times ... and I think that the dynamic on the reservation can make it even more complicated still, because it’s a small, tightknit community, and a lot of people are related to each other. In any domestic assault there is often concerned about recanting. In my experience with prosecuting domestic assaults on the reservation, there is an even greater possibility of it, and a greater confusion because parties are so close-knit that there is a even greater difficulty and, maybe not unwillingness, but a hesitancy for people to want the matter resolved outside the family circle, for instance. Cases involving domestic violence ... just what I indicated. The lack of resources. The lack of resources and the lack of — and I don’t necessarily believe that it’s intentional or willfulness on the part of some of the tribes not to really work hard in helping certain people, especially, again, that they are on the outs with the tribal members or council. Domestic violence cases and the other, because you have to deal with the cultural issue. And a lot of times, you are dealing with younger people … But when it comes to in-patient, and DV, when you talk about domestic violence, you are going to have to comply with the statute that says 52 weeks of anger management ... so one of our clients unfortunately lacked the finances or don’t have transportation ... or sometimes they end up getting violated because they don’t have the finances or the ability to comply. So again, it’s just lack of resources overall. I think it’s just lack of resources per se, just for our clients, let alone more difficulty when you talk about persons of different cultures. Domestic violence requires a lot of time. Sexual-assault cases require a lot of time ... child in need of aid. Where the state takes the child out of the home because the parents have some sort of deficiency that they need to work on. Public Law 280 criminal justice respondents mention less often other types of cases that involve expense and are time consuming including child welfare cases (4.3%), child neglect and abuse (4.3%), and child-protection orders (4.3%). Child welfare, neglect, and protection cases make up 12.9% of time- and resource-consuming cases. 


The remainder of cases mentioned as time- and resource-consuming are cases related to property crimes (2.9%), juvenile cases (1.4%), family law cases (1.3%), and Public Law 280 jurisdiction cases (1.3%). In non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions, criminal justice workers (N=17) commented on the cases that were most time- and resource-consuming for tribal courts. For the non-Public Law 280 jurisdictions, the 17 respondents made mention 30 times of the types of cases that cost in significant time and resources. The pattern is somewhat different from the county and state courts in Public Law 280 jurisdictions. The most frequently mentioned type of costly and timeconsuming cases reported by non-Public Law 280 criminal justice workers are alcohol and drug cases (33.3%). Major crimes — assaults, felonies, and sexual assaults — are mentioned 23.3% of time, while domestic violence cases are mentioned 20% of the time as incurring the most time 258 This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.


 and resources to manage. Child-welfare, custody, abuse, and paternity issues are cited 13.3% of the time as difficult and time-consuming cases. Juvenile court issues are mentioned 10% of the time as difficult-to-manage cases. In non-Public Law 280 tribal courts, children- or juvenilerelated cases make up 23.3% of the most difficult cases to manage, the same rate as major crimes. An important factor that may explain the results for non-Public Law 280 tribal courts is the limitation on sentencing found in the Indian Civil Rights Act.1 Under that Act, tribes may not impose criminal punishments exceeding one year in jail and a $5,000 per offense. Taking those conditions into account, tribal courts often defer to federal courts for the trial of serious felonies committed by Indians.2

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