Judges Seek Ways To Reduce Rising Caseload Chief Justice Tells State Lawmakers Collaboration Needed On Solutions

Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice Linda Copple Trout told the Legislature Tuesday that judges are looking into drug courts, sentencing issues and even a state sentencing commission.

With court caseloads skyrocketing and prison costs rising, Copple Trout said the judiciary is ready to work with the other branches of government.

“Our judges have continued to handle the increased cases, but they need help,” she said.

It was Copple Trout’s first State of the Judiciary address to the Legislature since becoming chief justice. A former Lewiston district judge, she was appointed to the high court in 1992 and was elected chief justice last year, the first woman to hold that title.

Copple Trout said the judiciary is studying the possibility of a sentencing commission for Idaho at the request of Rep. Bruce Newcomb, R-Burley.

Newcomb, the House majority leader, said, “I think it would be nice to look into how these commissions work in other states, and if that isn’t a good way to look at alternatives to incarceration.”

Newcomb chairs a legislative committee that received a report this year suggesting the state could save money if it turned to alternative forms of punishment - outside of prison - for nondangerous offenders.

If a commission could somehow involve all branches of government - the governor’s office, the judiciary, the Legislature, and more - it could be empowered to set sentences, not just to study them, Newcomb said.

In separate addresses to the House and the Senate, Copple Trout said juvenile cases have tripled in the past 15 years, criminal cases are up 100 percent over the past decade and felony drug cases are up even more - 160 percent in the last 10 years.

Copple Trout said she attributes the increases, “at least in part, to increasing societal problems as well as increases in population, and the addition of new crimes.”

She praised the Legislature for involving judges in a study over the summer of how capital cases are prosecuted by counties, and praised Gov. Phil Batt for consulting judges in his “Committee of One” study on how to address rising prison costs.

Judges are meeting with state Corrections Director Jim Spalding this week, to discuss retained jurisdiction programs, probation and alcohol and drug abuse programs, Copple Trout said.

Although judges have helped juggle the higher caseloads by volunteering to travel around the state to wherever backup is needed, Copple Trout said, “I worry that the quality of the decisions will suffer as a result of ever-increasing caseloads.”

She asked the Legislature to pay for one new magistrate judge, one new district court judge and a fourth Court of Appeals judge.

“The addition of these positions will help make caseloads more manageable,” she said.

She called for programs to address social problems that affect the courts, and said judges are working to make the courts more accessible to those who don’t have lawyers representing them.

She also asked lawmakers to fund Idaho’s piece of a multistate effort to test and certify court interpreters, to make sure people can rely on them to help them understand court proceedings.

Copple Trout also appealed for increases in judges’ pay, to make sure Idaho can continue to attract and keep qualified judges.

Gov. Phil Batt made no specific recommendation on that in his proposed budget, but he urged lawmakers to “look favorably on an increase” in his budget message to the Legislature.

“Our courts are too important to attract anything but the best and the brightest and most respected,” Batt said.

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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: CRUSH OF CASES In separate addresses to the House and the Senate, Copple Trout said juvenile cases have tripled in the past 15 years, criminal cases are up 100 percent over the past decade and felony drug cases are up even more - 160 percent in the last 10 years.