JDAI Site Updates
Washington , D.C. Law Helps Reduce Case Processing Delays
The JDAI site in Washington, D.C., has determined that emergency and temporary legislation passed by the D.C. City Council in 2007 eliminated unnecessary case processing delays and a backlog of juveniles awaiting placement into shelter care.
A recent study completed by the Council on Court Excellence, commissioned by the D.C. Council to evaluate the impact of the “Juvenile Speedy Trial Equity Emergency Act,” confirms that case processing times between first appearance and adjudication have been substantially reduced.
The law temporarily amended existing law to grant speedy trial rights to juveniles ordered into shelter care. The report authors recommend that the D.C. Council should hasten the permanent enactment of the emergency legislation.
“There is no backlog of youth awaiting shelter bed placement for the first time in memory, and a number of other detention alternatives are now under-capacity because of expedited case processing,” according to D.C. Department of Youth and Rehabilitative Director Vincent Schiraldi.
According to the study, 83 percent of shelter care cases were adjudicated within 45 days over a six-month period in 2008, compared to only 53 percent of cases adjudicated in 45 days in 2007.
By reducing the time youth spend on the shelter care pending placement list, D.C. also reduces the time youth spend in detention waiting for a bed to become available.
“In terms of case processing, the District of Columbia was one of the few JDAI sites to act legislatively to eliminate unnecessary delay,” said Bart Lubow, director of high-risk youth programs at the Casey Foundation.
“And it is probably the only place that actually followed up by studying whether or not the new law had its intended impact.”
Among the factors in the successful implementation of the law, according to the researchers, is a history of collaboration among stakeholders as a result of their participation in JDAI.
A copy of the evaluation by the Council on Court Excellence is available on the JDAI Help Desk.
For more information contact Diana Calderon, the District of Columbia’s JDAI coordinator, at Diana.calderon@dc.gov.
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