NCJ Number
73462
Date Published
1980
Length
72 pages
Annotation
The technical assistance visit to the San Luis Obispo District Attorney's Office (California) focused on the problems of resource allocation and management areas such as court scheduling and case processing, as well as on the word processing system.
Abstract
Management analyses were made regarding the complaint/charging unit, both felony and misdemeanor case processing, the family support unit, the victim/witness unit, the juvenile unit, the investigations unit, the economic crimes unit, the consumer unit, word processing, the paper flow in the office, and other miscellaneous concerns. Recommendations include: (1) developing one police reporting form to be used by all law enforcement agencies that report to the district attorney's office, (2) acquiring one person to perform intake review as a sole responsibility, (3) allowing assistants in the misdemeanor unit assigned to the municipal court to handle the preliminary hearings in felony cases in that court, and (4) hiring recent law school graduates to be assigned to the misdemeanor unit on a permanent basis, with promotions to the felony unit when vacancies occur. The report also recommends allowing the clerical staff to prepare the necessary paperwork and obtain the results of blood alcohol tests in drunk driving cases, scheduling backup cases in the court's docketing procedure, removing the responsibility for intervention in domestic violence situations from the victim/witness unit, assigning extra staff to the juvenile and investigations units, and establishing a central location of case files and minimizing the number of file folders in the possession of the attorneys at any one time. Sample forms are appended.