5. Cases bound over and not acted on at end of April term (line 3 above) 6. Cases bound over during July term 7. Total cases acted on by grand jury, July term 8. Cases-true-billed by grand jury, July term 9. Cases-no-billed by grand jury, July term 10. Cases remaining before grand jury, end of July term 11. Indictments returned during following year 12. Indictments returned during preceding year PETIT JURY WORK 457 426 Per cent. accumu lated cases Per cent accumu lated case 348 to indict 400 to indiet 16 332 105 preceding 19 years 43 years 255 252 20. Embryonic indictments in cases still to be acted on by grand jury transcript of the testimony is made. The prosecutor in the grand jury This lapse of time between the various stages of the cases was investi- jury. "Unknown" represents cases whose place of origin could not Table 18 is an analysis of time intervals between arrest and indictment (presentation to grand jury) and between arrest and disposition, classified in accordance with the disposition-that is, these time intervals in the cases which resulted in plea of guilty or in those which were nolled, and so on. These figures, it should be remembered, are averages. A case, for instance, in which the accused pleaded guilty in the Municipal Court would be a factor in making up the average. A more intensive study was made of the time interval between cases bound over in July, 1919. This interval ranged from a minimum of 60 days to a maximum of 164 days, averaging 80 days in the 55 cases. These cases arose in the summer, probably while no grand jury was in session. But intervals such as these are by no means uncommon in cases arising at other seasons, and summer is probably as favorable as any other period for disappearance of witnesses, impairment of recollection, and other damages to the effective administration of the criminal law. The summer accumulation of cases, due to the absence of a grand jury and the vacation of some or all of the criminal court judges, produces a congestion at the beginning of what may be called the trial year, from which the administration of justice does not recover during the year and which is a fruitful cause of hurried, careless methods of preparation and trial. Table 19 is a study of the amount of this accumulation and its inevitably harmful effect. The accumulation is kept down by a feverish spell of trials toward the end of the April term of court, so that justice's summer vacation works backward and forward to impair efficiency. An explanation may make Table 19 more intelligible. The April term of the court begins on the first Monday in April and ends on the first Monday in July, when the July term starts. The figures on line 10, namely, the cases remaining before the grand jury at the end of July term, represent the difference between the figures on lines 4 and 7. The figures on line 13, namely, the total indictments ready for trial during the July term, represent the total of the figures of the next two lines, 14 and 15. During the summer of 1916 and 1918 court was held for a short time to allow pleas of guilty and thus eliminate some of the cases. During the summer of 1917 a special session was held to receive pleas of guilty and also to hold a few jury trials. The figures on line 19, namely, total cases undisposed of at end of July term, represent the difference between the figures on lines 13 and 16. The records show that about 76 per cent. of the cases are "true-billed" by the grand jury and 24 per cent. "no-billed." Therefore, in line 20 it is assumed that 76 per cent. of the cases pending before the grand jury (line 10) will result in indictments. One of the judges sitting in the criminal branch in January, 1921, was struck by the fact that 12 out of the first 16 cases before him in that 1 The discrepancy between the 24 per cent. on this page and the 21.54 per cent. in column three of Table 3, page 95, indicating the percentage of no-billed cases as 21.54, is only apparent and not real. The base upon which the percentages in Table 3 are calculated included all cases which originated in the grand jury and resulted in true bills, but did not include cases originating in the grand jury which were no billed, there being no record kept of this latter type. Table 19 deals with the accumulation in the grand jury of cases coming up from the examining courts, and therefore the base upon which the percentages were calculated in Table 19 does not include any cases which originated in the grand jury. It is the difference in these two cases which produced the difference in the figures 24 and 21.54. month resulted in acquittals. He looked into the cause and came to the conclusion the fault lay in the serial or cumulative unpreparedness, to which we have called attention, accentuated just at this season by a change of administration in the prosecutor's office. With careful and thorough preparatory work in the earlier stages of a case, together with systematic filing of the information and good office organization, this harmful effect of change of administration could be minimized. ASSIGNMENT OF CASES Consideration of the opportunity of the trial prosecutor for preparation is necessarily connected with the system of the assignment of cases. The assignment of cases is in charge of the assignment commissioner of the criminal branch of the court. Cases are assigned for trial in the following order: first, all known criminals; second, defendants in jail; and third, bail cases. Within each one of these classes the cases are taken in numerical order. The rules of the Common Pleas Court provide that the prosecuting attorney shall furnish the presiding judge a list of known criminals against whom cases are pending, which the presiding judge certifies to the assignment commissioner. Like so many other rules, this is seldom observed. Three or four days before the date set for trials of a group of cases the prosecutor receives from the assignment commissioner the list of the cases set for that day. When the day arrives, the cases go into one room or another in their numerical order, so that the prosecutor in any particular room cannot know in advance which of the cases will be assigned to the room in which he is acting. The assignment commissioner is able and willing to adopt and has urged the adoption of a system whereby each trial prosecutor will know several days in advance which cases will be assigned to the court-room in which he works. THE GRAND JURY No case is tried nor is any sentence imposed unless there is an indictment by the grand jury. This is true of those cases in which a preliminary examination has been held by the Municipal Court, as well as those which are first instituted in the grand jury. The latter class of cases forms between 9 and 10 per cent. of the whole. In over 90 per cent. of the cases, therefore, two preliminary examinations are held-one in the Municipal Court in the presence of the accused, and the second in the grand jury room without the presence of the accused. County prosecutors are elected in November of even numbered years, and take office the following January. As a matter of fact, the grand jury does little more than register in formal shape the opinion of the prosecuting attorney that there is sufficient proof to warrant a trial. Very rarely does the grand jury indict when the opinion of the prosecuting attorney is to the contrary, and vice versa. The prosecuting attorney plays practically no part in the selection of the personnel of the grand jury. The process of selection is as follows: A number of names are drawn from the jury wheel, and those so drawn are notified to appear at a designated time and place. A considerable portion of those who appear ask, for one reason or another, to be excused, and the excusing of them is a responsibility of the court. As the session of the grand jury proceeds others ask to be excused. The vacancies created by these excuses are filled by the court from names selected by the court, the judge being free to select whom he please. Naturally, the selection is made from social or political acquaintances of the judge. Tables 20 and 21 show the number and percentages of grand jurors in the six terms of the court from April, 1919, to January, 1921, whose names were drawn for the grand jury, who failed to appear and who served during part of the term, and of those who were selected by the court, with the growth of the percentage of the jurymen selected by the court as the sessions progressed. TABLE 20.-NUMBER OF GRAND JURORS APPOINTED BY PRESIDING JUDGE FROM SOURCES OTHER THAN THE ORIGINAL PANEL Average 3d 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th for week whole term Average per week Average per cent. :::: 13 13 13 13 12 12 76 77 77 77 78 i3 78 39 26 26 26 70.6 38 5.8 7.7 11.5 12.5 12.5 12.7 12.8 12.8 12.8 13.0 13.0 13.0 13.0 13.0 13.0 11.8 51 77 83 83 84 86 86 86 887 87 87 87 87 87 78.0 A grand jury is composed of 15 members. Table 20 gives the number of persons on the grand jury selected by the judge himself entirely from If they fail to appear, nothing is done about it. No instance was discovered in which the prosecuting attorney followed up the failure of the summoned juror to appear. |