ARIZONA CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMISSION ii Ilil III;, Chairperson RALPH OGDEN Yuma County Sheriff Iii] DAVID K. BYERS Administrative Office of the Courts Director CLARENCE DUPNIK Pima County Sheriff JOSEPH ARPAIO Maricopa County Sheriff JIM BOLES City of Winslow Mayor CARROL de BROEKERT Board of Executive Clemency Chairperson RON CHRISTENSEN Gila County Board of Supervisors TONY ESTRADA Santa Cruz County Sheriff BILL FITZGERALD Yavapai County Adult Probation Officer BARBARA LAWALL Pima County Attorney ROBERT CARTER OLSON Pinal County Attorney DENNIS GARRETT Department of Public Safety Director CHRISTOPHER SKELLY Judge, Retired RICHARD J. YOST EI Mirage Police Department Chief TERRY GODDARD Attorney General RICHARD MIRANDA Tucson Police Department Chief CHARLES L. RYAN Department of Corrections Acting Director MICHAEL D. BRANHAM Executive Director STEVE BALLANCE Statistical Analysis Center Director III [I II .1 I Ii ,!I' I Kelly Lee Research Analyst J.T. McCANN Flagstaff Police Department Chief RICHARD M. ROMLEY Maricopa County Attorney JOHN BLACKBURN, JR . ,Program Manager DON THOMAS Senior Research Analyst I· II Fill the Gap: 2002 Table of Contents TABLE OF C ONTENTS ................................................................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................:... 2 STATE AID TO.COUNTY·ATTORNEYS .............................................................................................................. 7 STATE AID FOR INDIGENT DEFENSE ............................................................................................................. 15 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................................... 21 APPENDIX A: STATE AID TO COUNTY ATIORNEY EXPENDITURES BY COUNTY .. ~ ....................................... 23 APPENDIX B: STATE AID TO COUNTY ATIORNEY EXPENDITURES BY COUNTY .......................................... 24 APPENDIX C: STATE AID FOR INDIGENT DEFENSE EXPENDITURES BY AGENCy ......................................... 25 APPENDIX D: STATE AID FOR INDIGENT DEFENSE EXPENDITURES BY AGENCy ........................................ 26 Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 Paget ACJC Fill the Gap: 2002 INTRODUCTION Efficient criminal case processing is the cornerstone to an effective criminal justice system. One ~f the first steps in developing a court supervised caseflow management system is the creation of time standards governing case disposition. These standards are the statement of goals that the entire delay reduction or prevention program is designed to achieve (Solomon, 1987). Citizens, victims and defendants deserve access to a fair and swift process for resolving civil or criminal disputes~ It is the court's responsibility to ensure resources are adequate and that court procedures, poliCies and practices are consistent with this goal recognizing a successful case processing system must have the support and cooperation of the public defender and county attorney offices. Between 1992 and 1996, federal and local funding initiatives in Arizona resulted in a 21 percent increase in the number of police officers, causing a corresponding increase in the number of arrests. During this same period, the state legislature increased the operational capacity of state prisons by 6,600. Meanwhile, increased felony filings and more adult probationers led to increasing delays in the middle of the system (prosecution, defense and courts). Trial Court Performance Standard 2.1 states the trial court accepts and complies with recognized guidelines for timely case processing while, at the same time, keeping current with its incoming cases. The requirement of timely case processing applies to the trial as well as to pretrial and post-trial events. The court must control the time from civil case filing or criminal arrest to trial or other final disposition. In addition to requiring courts to comply with the nationally recognized guidelines for timely case processing, Standard 2.1 Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 Page 2 Fill the Gap: 2002 (of the Tentative Trial Court Performance Standards) urges courts to manage their caseloads to avoid backlog. This may be accomplished, for example by terminating inactive cases and disposing of as many cases as are filed (Tentative Trial Court Performance Standards, 1989). In 1999, Senate Bill 1013 was passed to provide funding for prosecutors, public defenders, courts and the Attorney General to enhance criminal case processing by creating three new funds within the State Aid Fund allocation. ,I: The bill established a composite formula for the distribution of monies from each fund to each county based on a three-year average of felony filings in Arizona Superior Court branches. The long-term goal of this Fill the Gap funding is to bring felony case processing in-line with the time standards developed by the Arizona Supreme Court. Those standards require that in each county, 90 percent of the felony cases be disposed within 100 days and that 99 percent of the cases be disposed within 180 days. The felony case processing standards developed by the Arizona Supreme Court were created to increase the public's trust in the court system, to inspire confidence that individual rights are being protected and to ensure that all Arizona citizens are being treated fairly (Arizona Supreme Court, 2002). The appropriation for Fill the Gap funds are specifically designated in A.R.S. §41-2421. For FY2002 (July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2002), this statute appropriated $648,300 to the State Aid to County Attorney's Fund and $615,900 to the State Aid to Indigent Defense Fund. In addition, A.R.S. §412421 mandates that additional funds for Fill the Gap come from a portion of the five-percent of monies collected by the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for the payment of filing fees, clerk fees, diversion fees, fines, penalties, surcharges, sanctions and forfeitures. Of this five-percent total, 21.61 percent is allocated to the State Aid to County Attorneys Fund ($664,841 in FY2002) and 20.53 percent is allocated to the State Aid to Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 Page 3 I, Fill the Gap: 2002 Indigent Defense Fund ($631,282 in FY2002). Earned interest is deposited into the funds and is utilized to support projects. The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission (AOC) is responsible for administering the funds and reporting on county attorney and indigent defense expenditures related to Fill the Gap. This entails documenting, monitoring and reporting progress made on criminal case processing. The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission must distribute the fund to county attorneys and indigent defense by September 1st each year according to the following composite index formula as directed in A.R.5. §41-2409: 1. The three-year average of the total felony filings in the superior court in the county divided by the statewide three-year average of the total felony filings in the superior court. 2. The county population, as adopted by the department of economic security, divided by the statewide population, as adopted by the department of economic security. 3. The sum of paragraphs 1 and 2 divided by two equals the composite index. 4. The composite index for each county shall be used as the multiplier against the total funds appropriated from the state general fund and other monies distributed to the fund pursuant to §41-2421. The Board of Supervisors in each county is then required to separately account for these funds and expend them only for providing enhanced state aid to the county attorneys or county public defenders for the processing of criminal cases.! For FY2002, AOC found that county attorneys and public defenders have made substantial progress toward the goal of improving criminal case processing utilizing Fill the Gap funds. Monies were used to add and maintain 1 Arizona Revised Statute §11-539. Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 Page 4 ACJC Fill the Gap: 2002 staff, purchase equipment and to purchase and implement case management systems. Four county attorney offices and five public defender offices added personnel, which reduced individual workloads and improved the overall efficiency of case processing. Equipment, which was purchased by nine county attorney offices and three public defender offices, improved technological capabilities related to criminal case processing. Two county attorney offices and three public defender offices purchased case management systems, which enhanced the processing and accuracy of data collection and management. Two county attorney offices and three public defender offices utilized funds to hire contract attorneys. One county attorney office and one public defender office utilized funds to hire consultants to evaluate existing case management practices in an effort to further improve case processing methods. The Fill the Gap 2002 report satisfies A.R.S. §41-2409.E, which requires AOC to report on the State Aid to County Attorney Fund and the State Aid to Indigent Defense Fund expenditures. The purpose of this report is to describe expenditures of State Aid to County Attorneys and State Aid to Indigent Defense Funds for FY2002 and to show the progress made in achieving the goal of improved criminal case processing in accordance with A.R.5. §412409. The basis of this report is derived from information submitted to the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission from Arizona's 15 county attorney and public defender offices. This report is composed of two sections. The first section describes the State Aid to County Attorneys expenditures and provides descriptions of how Fill the Gap funds helped to improve criminal case processing and a summary of their plans to continue improving criminal case processing. The second section describes the State Aid for Indigent Defense expenditures, provides a Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 PageS Fill the Gap: 2002 summary of how Fill the Gap funds improved criminal case processing, and outlines plans for continued improvement. Ii I , Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 Page 6 ACJC Fill the Gap: 2002 STATE AID TO COUNTY ATTORNEYS In its second year of existence, the State Aid to County Attorneys Fund generated a total of $~,313,141, of which $648,300 represents the Arizona General Fund appropriation and the remaining $664,841 is from fines, fees, surcharges, sanctions and forfeitures collected by the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. The allocations by county for FY2002 were as follows: STATE AID TO COUNTY AlTORNEYS County Attorney Apache Cochise Coconino Gila Graham Greenlee La Paz Maricopa Mohave. Navajo Pima Pinal Santa Cruz Yavapai Yuma TOTAL FY02 Appropriation '~?~648;300l~';f' ~~";;;,~_,,,",,*,,",,~",,",,,I *,,,,,,_,,,,,,,,,,,,,",,.,d,,sAL{,,g~ FY02 Fine Revenue $6,356 $12,891 $14,686 $10,677 $5,139 $1,084 '$3,756 $408,126 $22,040 $13,284 $95,265 $22,611 $4,295 $22,605 $22,026 $664,841 FY02 Total Revenue $12,554 $25,455 $29,292 $21,082 $10,150 $2,141 $7,412 $805,910 $43,518 $26,231 $188,127 $44,647 $8,483 $44,641 $43,498 $1,313,141 Table 1: Fund Allocations b Coun As part of their annual reporting to the AOC, county attorneys are required to submit a narrative report assessing the impact that Fill the Gap funding has had on their offices. Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 Page 7 ACJC Fill the Gap: 2002 In general, Fill the Gap funds were used in three main areas: the addition of staff; the purchase of equipment; and for other areas such as paying for professional services and travel expenses for witnesses, continuing a summer law program and for phone and fax service for one county. As Chart 1 demonstrates, more than half of the county attorney offices used Fill the Gap funds to purchase needed equipment (a single county attorney office may be counted in more than one category). COUNTY AlTORNEY EXPENDITURE BREAKDOWN Chart 1: Number of County Attorneys Using Fill the Gap Funds for Staff, Equipment, Case Management Systems, Consultants and Other. Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 PageS Fill the Gap: 2002 As illustrated by Chart 1, four of Arizona's 15 counties used Fill the Gap funds to acquire additional staff. For a detailed breakdown of expenditures by county attorney office see Appendix· A and B. In all, one county hired an additional attorney and' four counties hired five support staff personnel (administrative, legal aSSistants, data entry clerks and an investigator). Two county attorney's offices used Fill the Gap funds to contract with an attorney. The largest category of Fill the Gap expenditures for county attorneys were for the purchase of new equipment. Nine of the 15 counties utilized funds to purchase this equipment. The following section provides a list of all equipment purchased during FY2002. Equipment purchases included: • computer monitor • • upgrade software tape duplicating • computer upgrades machine • equipment replacement • copier (1) • network server • laptop computers • digital camera • network stations • fax/printer/scanner • computers • printers • projector screens • file cabinets • hard drive • computer hardware • CD burner • furniture • law books • memory upgrade Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 Page 9 Fill the Gap: 2002 Other Fill the Gap expenditures not related to the addition of staff or the purchase of equipment-included fees associated with implementing and maintaining new case management systems, increased pay for criminal attorneys and legal secretaries in order to retain experienced staff and funds to hire consulting services for their county. Each county attorney office was also asked to provide a description of how Fill the Gap funds helped to improve criminal case processing in FY2002. According to each office, Fill the Gap funds for FY2002 were utilized as follows: • The Apache County Attorney's Office used funds to pay for costs covering child abuse investigations and prosecution, which included forensic medical and psychological exams, emergency room exams and travel expenses for trial witnesses. • The Cochise County Attorney's Office used Fill the Gap funds in conjunction with funds from a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) grant, Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization (RICO) funds and County General funds to create a funding package for the new Misdemeanor Prosecution Unit created in FY2000. The Misdemeanor Prosecution Unit now consists of two full time prosecutors, a legal secretary, and a clerk and is supervised by an experienced prosecutor. The funds were used to pay a portion of one of the misdemeanor prosecutor positions as well as a portion of a new felony disclosure clerk position. This will allow felony prosecutors to concentrate exclusively on felony cases and increases the efficiency of both the felony and misdemeanor caseload. • The Coconino County Attorney's Office used Fill the Gap monies to fund one-quarter of a full-time attorney position, one-quarter of a full-time criminal legal secretary and a part-time contract attorney for the County Drug Court. The funds were also used to continue the summer law clerk program and to purchase computer equipment and software. • The Gila County Attorney's Office used Fill the Gap monies to update their case management system that they developed themselves. They also upgraded their antiquated computers and software and used funds to have consulting and assistance in developing their case management system. The Gila County Attorney's Office expended all Fill the Gap funds on computer equipment to expedite case processing time. Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 Page 10 Fill the Gap: 2002 • The Graham County Attorney's Office used funds to purchase equipment for the office and to purchase a necessary computer program. It is also used to pay a yearly maintenance fee on their case management computer program. • The Greenlee County Attorney's Office utilized funds to purchase needed office supplies such. as files, labels, paper and postage. They have also used funds to pay for telephone and fax services. • The La Paz County Attorney's Office used monies to pay a portion of the salary of one full-time criminal attorney. Without added staff, the county would be unable to prioritize criminal related incidents, as it is now able to do. • The Maricopa County Attorney's Office used funds to hire prosecution staff to handle the increased workload resulting from the addition of a new Superior Court Division created in 1999. In addition, the Maricopa County Early Disposition Court at the Southeast Facility in Mesa has improved criminal case processing by reducing early case processing days; for all cases, a minimum of 9 case processing days are eliminated and for those offenders who are sentenced, approximately 45 days are "saved". The Maricopa County Attorney's Office also added support staff in the pre-trial bureaus using Fill the Gap monies to ensure timely filings. • The Mohave County Attorney's Office used monies to purchase five computers, a printer and a fax machine as well as a supply of needed CD's for the newly acquired computers. Purchasing this equipment allowed for staff to burn photo CD's of crime scenes, use 35mm photos for PowerPoint presentations and the new computers were more compatible with the new case processing software. • The Navajo County Attorney's Office used funds to purchase two rolling files. These supplies were needed to clear out and destroy old felony cases and will help in the future to expedite case processing. • The Pima County Attorney's Office used funds to pay legal assistants to help perform tasks for case preparation therefore aiding the case processing time. • The Pinal County Attorney's Office used funds to purchase building materials for a 3,500 square foot addition to their existing building and for two copier/fax/printers. The added office space was necessary for the growing number of staff working in the Victim unit and the added equipment has increased productivity and reduced overall operating costs. Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 Page 11 Fill the Gap: 2002 • The Santa Cruz County Attorney's Office used Fill the Gap funds to hire a part-time employee to do data entry and to purchase additional computer software. • The Yavapai County Attorney's Office used monies to fund the salary of one full-time and one temporary prosecutor, thereby reducing all prosecutors' caseloads and improving the efficiency and quality of case processing. • The Yuma County Attorney's Office used monies to fund one full-time investigator and a portion of the salary for a part-time paralegal. They also purchased one computer that will aid in reducing caseloads in the office. Looking to the future, the county attorneys outlined their plans to continue improving criminal case processing. It should be noted that their plans are contingent upon the availability of appropriated funding. • The Apache County Attorney's Office will continue to cover court costs and investigations. If more budget cuts are on the horizon then funds may be used to cover personnel costs in an effort to maintain current time standards. • The Cochise County Attorney's Office stated that they would continue to use Fill the Gap funds to pay for additional equipment costs as the office grows. • The Coconino County Attorney's Office plans to use future Fill the Gap funds to continue to pay for their current attorney and support staff positions as well as the law clerk program. Funds would also be used to maintain and improve the computer system and to add a full time deputy county attorney and a full time legal secretary position. • The Gila County Attorney's Office reported that most funds would be utilized to further upgrade equipment and keep the case management system operational. • The Graham County Attorney's Office intends to use funds to continue to pay for any necessary office equipment and for the yearly maintenance fee on the case management program. • The Greenlee County Attorney's Office has experienced an increased caseload and will continue re-organizational efforts to better access and Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 Page 12 Fill the Gap: 2002 process criminal cases. ACJC • The La Paz County Attorney's Office will be used to pay a portion of attorney and secretary salaries. • The Maricopa County Attorney's Office will use future Fill the Gap Funds to explore a collaboration between the Superior Court, Indigent Representation, Clerk of the Court, Sheriff's Office, Adult Probation and other agencies to develop initiatives to reduce the time to disposition. • The Mohave County Attorney's Office plans to purchase a projector and a combination projector/overhead camera as well as a more complex laptop computer to handle all programs. They will add an additional printer and an Avermedia Portable Presenter. Mohave County is also looking into purchasing additional courtroom technology equipment and will attend seminars to research what would best suit their needs. • The Navajo County Attorney's Office will set goals prior to each funding year in those areas that are in need of improvements and where case processing can be addressed. This next year the goal may be to continue clearing out and destroying old felony cases. This will allow for more efficient case processing of active and newer cases. • The Pima County Attorney's Office will continue to help pay the legal assistants working cases where a plea was rejected which will continue to contribute to the efficient processing of court cases. • The Pinal County Attorney's Office plans to use future funds to purchase hardware and software to speed the information sharing process and reduce overall record keeping costs. • The Santa Cruz County Attorney's Office will continue to improve and upgrade computer hardware and software to make the overall system more efficient. • The Yavapai County Attorney will continue to fund one full-time prosecutor to expedite criminal processing efforts. Additionally, the office may look to partially fund a temporary position as needed. Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 Page 13 Fill the Gap: 2002 • The Yuma County Attorney's Office will use funds to add one legal secretary, additional staff and continue to fund the investigator and paralegal positions. Finally, county attorneys were asked for suggestions to improve the Fill the Gap program. Many county attorney offices stated that increased funding is needed to add and maintain necessary staff, which would further improve case processing time. They also indicated that an assurance of continued funding is necessary in order to make additional staffing decisions. Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Fill the Gap 2002 Page 14 Fill the Gap: 2002 STATE AID FOR INDIGENT DEFENSE The State Aid for Indigent Defense fund generated a total of $1,247,182 in its second year of implementation, of which $615,900 was appropriated through the State General Fund and $631,282 was received through Supreme Court and Court of Appeals fines. The allocations by county for FY2002 were as follows: STATE AID FOR INDIGENT DEFENSE FUNDING FY02 County Agency Appropriation Apache Superior Court;$,!;,~~~~~~>ti'liJJg;~.f. Cochise Superior Court '~11,936 ',:. ',' , $13,876" :,~ Coconino Superior Court ~;:~~~J~::~~~~ ~~~!I~ftl~!.• La Paz Superior Court Maricopa Public Defender Mohave Superior Court i$3,~74 '>""';" .'.' f;~;i7~,90~f~~';'f/!ik .$20,~()5