Editorial: Six-minute justice

Tuesday, April 3, 2007 | 7:13 a.m.

Six minutes may be all a judge in Clark County's Family Court has to hear a foster child's case.

There should be more time to hear the cases of children who are separated from their families and placed in the county's custody, but the caseload of Family Court judges is staggering.

According to recent testimony presented to the Legislature, one judge handles 10 foster cases an hour, as Sam Skolnik reported in a story in Monday's Las Vegas Sun. The 13 judges of Family Court saw 58,760 case filings last year, a 42 percent increase from 2000.

The Family Court judges are part of District Court, which is one of the busiest in the West. The judges are simply outnumbered. There were more than 91,000 case filings in District Court last year, which equals 2,782 cases for each of the 33 judges. That is more than 1,000 cases higher per judge than any other state in the West.

"We're seeing an impact on the quality of justice," Chief District Judge Kathy Hardcastle told an Assembly committee last month, referring to the time judges can spend on individual cases. "We don't want to become an assembly-line court."

Hardcastle and Family Court Presiding Judge Art Ritchie are asking the Legislature for 10 more District Court judges in Clark County to reduce the caseloads. It is a worthy request.

The Family Court doesn't come close to the American Bar Association's recommendations on how quickly cases are handled. The association recommends that 98 percent of cases be fully resolved within six months, but in Clark County just 55 percent are handled within that time.

The caseload in Family Court can be complex and emotional. It includes adoptions, divorces and paternity matters, temporary protection orders , and child abuse and neglect allegations.

To truly do justice in these cases, judges need time. Lawmakers should approve more judges to ensure that a child's day in court lasts longer than six minutes.