91ST CONGRESS 1st Session SENATE { REPORT No. 91-405 REORGANIZING THE COURTS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES SEPTEMBER 16, 1969.—Ordered to be printed Mr. TYDINGS, from the Committee on the District of Columbia, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. 2601] The Committee on the District of Columbia, to which was referred the bill (S. 2601) to reorganize the courts of the District of Columbia, and for other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment and recommends that the bill as amended do pass. The amendment as indicated in the bill as reported by linetype and italic is as follows: Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert new language as a substitute. PURPOSE OF BILL S. 2601 as amended by this committee constitutes a vital measure for the reduction of crime committed in the National Capital, as the bill's principal purpose is to improve the administration of justice in the District of Columbia, especially in the area of criminal law. Toward this end, the bill (S. 2601) recommended by this committee provides a merged local court system, with an enlarged judiciary sufficient to meet growing caseloads, and with general jurisdiction over all local matters; good behavior tenure (after an initial 4-year term) and compensation for the local judiciary adequate to attract quality personnel to the bench; a strengthened judicial selection process, moving toward a merit system of selection, and a well-defined mechanism for ridding the bench of unfit judges, as further assurances of judicial competence; 37-010-69 a court executive officer to infuse management, know-how into court operations, to enhance the efficient as well as just disposition of court business; an independent Advisory Committee on the Administration of Justice in the District of Columbia Courts, to exercise continual oversight of the courts' operations, and to spur legislative and other modes of judicial reform when necessary; a modern office of medical examiners to replace the antiquated local coroner's office; amendments updating the District's law of criminal procedure; and other amendments to substantive and procedural law necessary to effect the court reorganization. NEED FOR LEGISLATION Available statistics on crime in the National capital indicate alarming and unremitting increases. Expert analyses and the testimony of numerous witnesses would indicate as well that the incidence of crime can be traced in significant part to the inadequacy of the District's judicial machinery and to critical defects here in the administration of criminal justice. The committee is advised, most notably, that the total of crime index offenses reported in the District of Columbia for the 12-month period ending July 1969, stands at 55,531, an increase of 24.4 percent over July of 1968. The incidence of homicide has increased 38.2 percent, from 178 to 246 for the same period; the number of rapes has increased 69.5 percent, from 190 to 322; the number of aggravated assaults has increased 10.7 percent, from 3,085 to 3,414; reported cases of burglary have increased 18.8 percent, from 16,683 to 19,827; larceny has increased 34.5 percent, from a reported 7,439 to 10,007; and the incidence of robbery has increased 55.6 percent, from a reported 6,809 for the year ending July 1968, up to 10,592 for the 12month period ending July of this year. The committee is advised likewise that the deterrent impact of swift trial and punishment has been severely undermined in the National Capital, as the median time lapse from filing to final disposition in felony proceedings has increased from approximately 8 months or, more precisely, 34 weeks during fiscal year 1964, to a crippling figure of 91⁄2 months or 41 weeks during fiscal year 1968. The median time lapse in the District of Columbia has remained more than triple the median lapse in other Federal district courts. To be compared also is the recommendation of the Committee on the Administration of Justice of the Judicial Council of the District of Columbia that the principal felonies-murder, rape, robbery, and first degree burglarybe disposed of within 6 weeks of indictment, to preserve the deterrent function of our system of criminal justice. The President's Commission on Crime in the District of Columbia has recommended that persons who are potentially dangerous to the community be tried within 30 days after indictment. The backlog of pending criminal cases in the only existing felony court in the National Capital, the Federal district court, increased over the last calendar year, and is reported to stand currently at approximately 1,669 cases-notwithstanding an exemplary implementation |