2016-2017 Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury Report Justice Delayed:

Published: April 11, 2017 20 pages

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⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings and Recommendations 3 findings

There is a culture in the criminal justice administration system that tolerates delays in disposition of felony cases. This is costly to Santa Clara County in both financial and human terms.

Related Recommendations (3)

R1a

The Santa Clara County District Attorney should: • Identify practices that contribute to delays in the resolution of criminal cases. • Educate staff about the financial and human impacts of delays on Santa Clara County. • Develop more efficient practices while maintaining the integrity of the role of the prosecution. • Hold staff accountable for adopting those practices.

R1b

Santa Clara County should direct the Public Defender, the Alternate Defender and the Independent Defense Counsel Offices to: • Identify practices in their offices that contribute to delays in disposition of criminal cases. • Educate staff about the financial and human impacts of delays on Santa Clara County. • Develop more efficient practices without sacrificing their duty to their clients. • Hold staff accountable for adopting those practices.

R1c

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors should require the District Attorney, the Public Defender, the Alternate Defender, and the Independent Defense Counsel Offices to provide evidence of changes in practices that will lead to shorter disposition times for felony cases as a prerequisite to authorizing additional resources for these offices.

Santa Clara County’s criminal justice agencies use outdated, legacy computer systems, making it difficult to exchange information and expedite disposition of criminal cases. A plan for integrating computer systems and databases is expected to take at least three to five years to implement.

Related Recommendations (1)

Santa Clara County should expedite the updating and integration of criminal- justice agencies’ computer systems and databases.

Santa Clara County’s criminal justice agencies do not have the data- management resources needed to deal with a huge increase in the volume of discovery, such as audio and video recordings and social media postings.

Related Recommendations (1)

Santa Clara County should work with the District Attorney, Public Defender, Alternate Public Defender, and Independent Defense Counsel to evaluate the data-management needs of criminal-justice agencies in order to determine and prioritize training, hiring, and technology resources.

Conclusions 8

CL1 Page 14

There is a culture in the criminal justice administration system that tolerates delays in disposition of felony cases. This is costly to Santa Clara County in both financial and human terms.
CL2 Page 15

Santa Clara County’s criminal justice agencies do not have the data- management resources needed to deal with a huge increase in the volume of discovery, such as audio and video recordings and social media postings.
CL3 Page 14

Identify practices that contribute to delays in the resolution of criminal cases.
CL4 Page 14

Educate staff about the financial and human impacts of delays on Santa Clara County.
CL5 Page 14

Develop more efficient practices while maintaining the integrity of the role of the prosecution.
CL6 Page 14

Hold staff accountable for adopting those practices.
CL7 Page 14

Identify practices in their offices that contribute to delays in disposition of criminal cases.
CL8 Page 14

Develop more efficient practices without sacrificing their duty to their clients.

Agency Responses 1

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.

County of Santa Clara, District Attorney Office

August 04, 2017 • 10 pages • 1 response • Score: 0 (+0, 1, 0) View Details ▾

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1 response to findings and recommendations

R1a

Response: Implemented

Scheduled: within 10 days Score: 0

This recommendation has been and will continue to be implemented. The District Attorney's Office has engaged in the study of this issue both internally and with the help of outside entities for several years. The key practices that contribute to the delays are as follows: 1. The criminal defendant and his or her attorney control the clock in a criminal case. In Santa Clara County, that control has not been balanced with the urgent need to adjudicate criminal cases in a more timely way. Here are the ways the defense controls the clock in a felony case: The Defense decides when to enter a plea. ...

No Responses Found 2

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Elected County Office

Santa Clara County Public Defender Elected County Office