The vast majority of judges will never confront the challenge of dealing with the death penalty. And so A new study confirms racial and sentencing disparities in capital cases which “.. found that prosecutors were significantly more likely to seek death against defendants who kill white victims, and that juries were significantly more likely to sentence those defendants to death.”  might not seem relevant. JOURNAL OF EMPIRICAL LEGAL STUDIES. But perhaps there is a larger message behind the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies finding: if it happens in death penalty cases what about the kind of cases I preside over? Something to think about.

There is an old adage “justice delayed is justice denied.” Too often courts operate far too slowly despite research that shows the speed to disposition has a major impact on recidivism. But it is not only criminal cases. Can a fifth grade child learn effectively if they do not know which parent they will live with until the 8th grade? Effective case management is driven by judges but there are a myriad of other causes not the least of which is for the justice system to be adequately funded.

Propublica recently published an article on delay in the justice system. It is painful to read. Alaska has for decades had a very effective judiciary. But the story in a sense is not about Alaska. It is about many of our courts.  https://www.propublica.org/article/anchorage-alaska-pretrial-delays-sexual-assault