good practice to assign all pending cases against the same defendant (both felonies and misdemeanors) to the same judge, to have all probation violations “trail” a new felony charge, and to ensure that all relevant prior case files are maintained with the file for the current charge. Any person interested in a case is able to find the date of the next scheduled event easily – by looking on the court website, accessing the court database, or calling the clerk’s office. The date of the next event is always confirmed at the close of any hearing At the close of every court hearing or event, the court reminds the parties of the date set for the next one, reaffirming the schedule and reasserting the court’s control over it. If the schedule has become unrealistic, this is the opportunity for one of the parties to bring to the court’s attention the reason compelling a change. Creating and maintaining expectations that events will occur when they are scheduled Effective case management focuses on influencing not only the behavior of the judges and court staff, but the behavior of the attorneys and other criminal justice system participants as well. When lawyers have an expectation that matters will occur when they are scheduled, they subpoena witnesses, they prepare for the hearing or trial, they make sure that the defendant and prosecuting and defense witness are present and prepared, and they assemble needed documents. When the matter is called, they are ready to proceed. When lawyers do not have that expectation – when cases are frequently postponed at the last minute, when judges frequently fail to reach all of the matters set on a calendar, or when incarcerated defendants frequently fail to arrive on time from the jail – the lawyers may have legitimate doubts that their case will go forward, will not prepare, and will not bring or subpoena witnesses. They will be reluctant to invest time and energy – and the time and energy of their clients and witnesses – in an event that may or may not proceed as scheduled. If the matter is called, the lawyer will tell the court that s/he is not prepared to proceed and the matter will have to be rescheduled.
When some types of misdemeanor cases are assigned to general calendars, they are virtually overlooked as minor or trivial. Assigning them to a single calendar raises their visibility and increases the awareness of the judge handling them of the social circumstances out of which they arise. These sorts of courts are often referred to as “problem solving” courts because they attempt to stop the revolving door of criminal court involvement of the defendants who appear in them. has centralized the handling of special writ proceedings involving cases such as DNA cases, battered women syndrome cases, and parole denials. For more information contact Research Attorney Karin Borzakian at . has created a separate calendar for mental health cases. All requests for mental competency determinations under Penal Code Section 1368 are handled in this court. A representative of the mental health department attends all sessions of the special mental health calendar. For more information contact Sharry Shumaker at . has established drug, homeless, and community courts. For more information contact Mark Urry at . has begun a homeless court. For more information contact Roberta Stibbard at . Setting case processing goals and using court data to monitor compliance with them Courts making an effort to improve their case processing find it helpful to set clear goals not only for the overall time required to dispose of a case, but also for intermediate stages of case processing as well. Examples of such intermediate stage measures appear in Chapter 6. The California Judicial Council has promulgated case processing standards that “establish goals for all cases filed, [but] are not meant to create deadlines for individual cases. Through its case management practices, a court may achieve or exceed the goals for the overall
murder, forcible rape, and career criminal cases, will include a date, not to exceed 15 days following the arraignment, for tendering of an offer of disposition by the District Attorney, followed by a plea acceptance cut off date 15 days thereafter. The court will not accept a plea based on an offer of disposition after the plea acceptance cut off date. Identifying all pending criminal charges against the same individual and scheduling them for consideration concurrently. Before scheduling a matter, staff will search the CMIS for any other criminal matters pending against the same defendant, including misdemeanors and violation of probation charges. If such matters are found, staff will alert the judge, who will confer with the judge or judges to whom the other matter or matters are assigned and agree on the transfer of all pending cases to one of them. As a general rule, if there are two open felony cases, the later filed will be transferred to the judge to whom the first-filed case has been assigned. Limiting continuances. In accordance with the policy set forth in PC 1050, continuances will not be granted merely for the convenience of the parties or counsel, nor merely upon stipulation by the parties. All judges shall attempt to maintain established trial dates, to the extent consistent with the ends of justice. Scheduling hearings. All hearings shall be scheduled for a time certain. Every judge will exert her or his utmost energies to see that hearings begin at the time scheduled. All judges will assume the bench at or before the time the first matter in the morning or afternoon is scheduled. Eliminating arraignments. Upon the stipulation of all parties, the judge, following the completion of a preliminary hearing and the entry of an order binding the defendant over for trial on one or more of the charges contained in the complaint, will treat the complaint as an information and will immediately conduct an arraignment on the basis of that information. Concurrent resolution of new criminal charges and probation or parole revocation proceedings. When a person currently on probation or parole is charged with a new criminal offense, the court will at the first appearance explore with the District Attorney the possibility of scheduling the matter for a hearing on