NCJ Number
193300
Journal
Judicature Volume: 85 Issue: 3 Dated: November-December 2001 Pages: 116-124
Date Published
2001
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article assesses the methodology and findings of the National Center for State Courts' (NCSC) evaluation of the Michigan Trial Court Consolidation Demonstration projects.
Abstract
Six projects initiated by the Michigan Supreme Court in 1996 consolidated local trial courts into a single court of general jurisdiction in an effort to improve the quality of court service to the public. The NCSC based its evaluation on interviews and focus groups with key demonstration project participants in 1996 and 1998. Demonstration project court administrators and staff, with the aid of Michigan State Court administrative Office analysts, provided qualitative and quantitative information to NSCS evaluators. For the purposes of this critique of the evaluation, the statistics presented in the NCSC report are assumed to be accurate, as are the statements of the stakeholders. The NCSC evaluation concluded that "consolidating local trial courts into a single court of general jurisdiction can substantially improve the quality of court service to the public;" it recommends continued trial court consolidation in Michigan. The current review of the NCSC evaluation, however, does not support the evaluation's overall conclusion that court consolidation can substantially improve the quality of court service to the public. Indeed, serious problems arose in at least half of the demonstration sites studied, including questions about whether trial court consolidation will work at all in larger and more urban jurisdictions, as well as whether consolidation will work in small rural courts because of judicial discomfort with a small number of rural judges being forced to handle a wider range of cases. Questions about the research design of the evaluation report further weaken its findings. An executive summary of the NCSC evaluation report is provided. 26 footnotes