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Chief Judge of Alaska Supreme Court told the state legislators This week, when the judicial system takes measures to reduce the amount of time that requires criminal cases to reach a trial, the problem emphasizes the recent PROPBLICA and Anchorage news investigation.
In the annual state of speech to the judicial system on Wednesday in the Capitol in Juno, the chairman of the court Susan M. Carney said that the judiciary had increased the training of the judges, created a new policy on the refund and authorized payment. She noted that the mission of the judicial system includes the decision of the cases “promptly and integrity”.
“You probably know that we do not justify our expectations – our own or Alaskans are about the operative part of this mission,” Carney said.
Noticing the “latest media accounts” about extreme delays, Carney stated that the state was acquiring a position and that the solution to the problem is “our priority # 1”.
“We must, and we will improve how we consider criminal cases to prevent such a delay,” Carney said.
The Daily News and Propublica reported in January The most serious cases of criminal liability in Alaska can take five, seven or even 10 years to reach the trial As judges approve dozens of delay. These delays may be requested as the defenders expect the prosecutors to share the evidence either because the lawyers have a heavy load on jugling, or even as a tactic to weaken the persecution over time.
The category of cases studied by PROPBLICA and Daily News, the most serious crimes such as murder and violent sexual attacks have taken the median judicial system for three years to complete in 2023, increasing three times in 2013.
The editorial staff revealed one case that The judges described as one of the most “horrible” sexual attacks that they saw if they saw And this has been delayed at least 74 times for 10 years.
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The Alaska and Legislators’ judicial system knew about the serious pre-trial delay long before the Covid-19 thwarted the courts, especially in the an anchid. In 2009, Report of the National Center of State Courts He noted that the time to resolve criminal cases in the an anchridge increased by almost 400% over the previous decade.
Recognizing the long delays described in the news and their influence on victims and accused of major crimes, Carney told the legislators that less serious criminal cases – which are most cases in the system – do not require so much time.
“I do this not to justify these extraordinarily delay, but I want to give a bigger picture,” said Carney, Judge Ferbenx, who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2016 and became the chief judge this year.
The average time to close the offense cases is six months and shorter, Carney said. She said there were fewer serious cases of crime such as theft of cars and some charges of attack, decided by the media for six months, she said. Class A crimes, which include some sexual attacks, murder and some drug charges, take 13 months.
Carney also noted that only about 3% of the criminal cases go to court. Many decide if the defendant agrees to plead guilty of reducing the charges rather than the risk of being recognized as a jury or if the prosecutor’s office has abandoned the charges.
Karni told the legislators that the judges had created new restrictions that the case could be delayed and that the judges had devoted a third of their annual training conference on how to reduce the number of cases under consideration.
Carney has now said that more cases are closed than it opens, and the number of open cases has dropped by a third compared to the year, which has led the number of open criminal cases since 2018.
“So we are progressing,” said Carney, who has spent almost three decades as a lawyer at the Alaska public defender and public propaganda.
It did not provide a load figure specifically for unclaimed crimes, the category of serious crimes, which were focused on propublica and daily news.
Boldly, Alaska’s justice created a significant impact on the victims of crimes, accused and society.
In the Daily News and PROPUBLICA report in October found the City Ancoridge dismissed hundreds of criminal cases In 2024, because he lacks prosecutors to perform fast trials. The dismissal case included allegations of attacking children and cruelty.
State prosecutors responded to this investigation, offering additional employees to help the city continue to move.
