BUILDING A THEORY OF CASE PROCESSING TIME

• NCJ Number: 50738
• Journal: Judicature Volume: 62 Issue: 3 Dated: (SEPTEMBER 1978) Pages: 115-127
• Author(s): M L LUSKIN
• Date Published: 1978
• Length: 14 pages
• Corporate Author: American Judicature Soc
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

METHODOLOGICAL LIMITATIONS OF CAUSE INVENTORIES, EXPERIMENTS, SURVEYS, AND PROCESS MODELS IN STUDYING COURT DELAY ARE EXAMINED IN RELATION TO DEVELOPING CASE PROCESSING TIME THEORY.

Abstract

CAUSE INVENTORIES OF COURT DELAY ARE INADEQUATE IN BUILDING CASE PROCESSING TIME THEORY BECAUSE THEY DO NOT DESCRIBE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG CAUSES, INCLUDE UNIFORM DEFINITIONS OF DELAY, OR SPECIFY THE DELAY INDICATORS. ALTHOUGH EXPERIMENTS CAN EFFECTIVELY DETERMINE WHETHER VARIABLES CAUSE EFFECTS, THERE IS ALWAYS THE PROBLEM OF IMPLEMENTATION. COURT PERSONNEL OFTEN REFUSE TO EXPERIMENT WITH NEW PROCEDURES DUE TO TIME OR COST FACTORS, AND RESEARCHERS ARE OFTEN UNABLE TO MANIPULATE VARIABLES AFFECTING COURT DELAY. SURVEYS ARE COMMON COURT DELAY RESEARCH DESIGNS SINCE THEY ARE FLEXIBLE, BUT RESEARCHERS LACK CONTROL OVER INDEPENDENT VARIABLES AND MUST UTILIZE STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR DETERMINING CAUSAL ORDERING OF DEPENDENT VARIABLES. SPECIFICATION ERROR IN SURVEY DESIGN CAN RESULT FROM THE OMMISSION OF A RELEVANT VARIABLE, INCLUSION OF AN IRRELEVANT VARIABLE, OR THE INCORRECT MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATION OF VARIABLE RELATIONSHIPS. COST FACTORS HAMPER DATA GATHERING FOR ANALYZING EFFECTS OF COURT-WIDE VARIABLES, SO STUDIES GENERALLY MEASURE VARIABLE SUBSETS. RESEARCHERS USING ECONOMIC MODELS OF COURT DELAY HAVE INCLUDED CASE PROCESSING TIME AS AN INDEPENDENT VARIABLE BY DESCRIBING IT AS NONMONETARY PRICE THAT RATIONS COURT-SERVICE DEMAND. ECONOMIC MODELS CANNOT DETERMINE CAUSAL FLOW AMONG VARIABLES. MATHEMATICAL COURT PROCESS MODELS USUALLY CONSIDER PHYSICAL CAPACITIES OF COURTS, INTRODUCE VARIABLES THAT CAN BE CONTROLLED BY COURT DECISIONMAKERS, AND INCLUDE COMPUTER SIMULATIONS FOR OPERATIONS VALIDATION. THEIR SPECIFICATION RESULTS IN OMISSION OF VARIABLES AND RELATIONSHIPS IMPORTANT TO COURT PROCESSING DELAY. A COMPREHENSIVE THEORY OF CASE PROCESSING TIME WOULD SPECIFY VARIABLE RELATIONSHIPS, GUIDE IN THE SELECTION OF THEORETICAL PROBLEMS FOR ANALYSIS, AND REPRESENT DATA ACCUMULATED OVER AN EXTENDED TIME PERIOD SO THAT TIME LAGS CAN BE OBSERVED. (DAG)