Editorial: Too many cases, too few judges

Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 | 9:18 a.m.

On Thursday the Nevada Supreme Court released its annual report, and what really jumped out at us was its documentation of the increasing number of cases filed in Clark County. In fiscal year 2004, there were on average 2,633 cases filed for each judge in Clark County. (The figure doesn't include traffic cases since they normally don't come before a judge.) In Washoe County, where Reno is located, filings averaged 1,839 per judge. These compare to California, where there were 1,546 filings per judge, and Arizona, which had just 1,061 per judge.

The numbers tell part of the story, but at heart this really isn't about statistics -- it's about justice. Too many cases with not enough judges to preside over them result in a serious backlog. Clark County District Court Administrator Chuck Short summed up what that means when he told Sun reporter Molly Ball, "That's not good for the average person in Clark County who's getting a divorce, or who gets involved in a car accident, or who has their house burglarized." Currently only 74 percent of criminal cases here are resolved in a year's time while the nationally recommended standard is 100 percent.

"That means we have about 2,000 cases where people charged with a crime are either out on the streets for more than a year or (are kept) in the Clark County Detention Center" for that long, Short notes. Neither the victims of crimes nor those accused of committing them are being afforded justice by having to wait such a long time to have their cases resolved.

Clark County has tried innovative programs, such as its short-trial program that allows some cases to be finished in a day, but new approaches can only get you so far. What's really needed are more judges. Seven new District Court judges are being requested for Clark County to help deal with the burgeoning caseload. The Legislature should approve the request as soon as possible.