Opinion ID: 2262950
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Nature of the State Interest Justifies Some Infringement Upon the Rights Involved

Text: As we have noted the state's interest in speedy trials is two-fold: To fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide all criminal defendants with speedy trials; to satisfy the public's right to have persons accused of crime tried with reasonable speed. In July of 1969, when this rule was promulgated, Philadelphia had 8,421 untried criminal cases in the Court of Common Pleas and 3,367 of those cases were more than six months old. In Memorandum 69-60, President Judge CARROLL embarked upon a conscientious effort to bring all criminal cases to trial within six months of the indictment. The situation has not improved significantly since 1969. In Commonwealth v. Hamilton, supra at 306-309, this court reviewed the criminal backlog in Philadelphia and called upon all those entrusted with the responsibility of managing court calendars to increase their efforts to assure speedy trials. Such backlogs produce intolerable tensions upon society in general, and upon the criminal justice system in particular. The inability of courts to provide a prompt trial has contributed to a large backlog of cases in urban courts which, among other things, enables defendants to negotiate more effectively for pleas of guilty to lesser offenses and otherwise manipulate the system. In addition, persons released on bond for lengthy periods awaiting trial have an opportunity to commit other crimes.. . . Moreover, the longer an accused is free awaiting trial, the more tempting becomes his opportunity to jump bail and escape. Finally, delay between arrest and punishment may have a detrimental effect on rehabilitation. If an accused cannot make bail, he is generally confined, . . . in a local jail. This contributes to the overcrowding and generally deplorable state of those institutions. Lengthy exposure to these conditions `has a destructive effect on human character and makes the rehabilitation of the individual offender much more difficult'. At times the result may even be violent rioting. Finally, lengthy pretrial detention is costly. The cost of maintaining a prisoner in jail varies from $3 to $9 per day, and this amounts to millions across the Nation. In addition, society loses wages which might have been earned, and it must often support families of incarcerated breadwinners. Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. at 519-21. (Footnotes omitted.) When Rule []301 is viewed in the perspective of the enormous criminal backlog in Philadelphia, it is clear that the state's interest mandates some incursion upon the rights invoked by the petitioner.