Achieving Prompt and Affordable Justice in Iowa's First Judicial District

• NCJ Number: 204457
• Author(s): Barry Mahoney; Doug Somerlot; Richard Hoffman
• Date Published: August 2000
• Length: 134 pages
• Grant Number(s): 97-DD-BX-0074
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
• Corporate Author: American University Criminal Courts Technical Assistance Project
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services; American University Criminal Courts Technical Assistance Project
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Technical Assistance)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Crimininal Courts Technical Assistance Project Report No. 98-36.

Annotation

This technical assistance report describes the development process for identifying, developing, and implementing changes that can provide prompt and affordable justice in Iowa's First Judicial District (Des Moines) and presents materials of a training workshop, along with court case-processing statistics and actions plans for civil and criminal cases.

Abstract

The First Judicial District is an 11-county district in the northeast corner of the State; 9 of the 11 counties are relatively rural. The Justice Management Institute (JMI) of American University (Washington, DC) presented a multi-day program in the First District with the aim of developing a plan or plans for improving the process by which the First Direct conducts its judicial business. A steering committee was established to manage the project. On January 3, 4, and 5, 2000, JMI staff presented a workshop entitled "Achieving Prompt and Affordable Justice in Iowa's First Judicial District." The workshop's format included several plenary sessions, several small-group discussions, and a number of team sessions designed to begin the process of developing a plan to improve the processing of cases in the First District. One of the highlights of the workshop was a plenary panel discussion of "Practitioner Perceptions on System Operations and Needs." Judges of the First District met to discuss the planning that had occurred during the workshop and to reach consensus on follow-up steps. An exhibit summarizes the next steps developed at this meeting. Another attachment to this report summarizes the action plans that were prepared by the various groups during the workshop. Because the final plans are either still under development or have been in effect too short a time, it is not possible to evaluate their effectiveness; however, this report concludes that the change in attitude among court staff represents a major change in the behavior of all involved in the First District's court system.