Chief Judge DiFiore praises Brooklyn in State of the Judiciary Address

February 22, 2017 By Rob Abruzzese, Legal Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Chief Judge Janet DiFiore continued a tradition that goes back to Chief Judge Sol Wachtler, who gave the first State of Our Judiciary speech in 1985. This year, the chief judge talked about her Excellence Initiative, which she implemented to address backlogs and delays in the justice system. Eagle photo by Rob Abruzzese

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Chief Judge Janet DiFiore gave her first State of Our Judiciary address at the Bronx County Hall of Justice on Wednesday in which she examined her first year as the state’s top judge and even praised Brooklyn a couple of times.

“I am pleased to report that our judiciary is fundamentally sound, that our trial and appellate judges are working hard, that we are adopting better management systems and that we have improved our performance over the past year,” DiFiore said. “This is not to downplay our many challenges. We are acutely aware that there is much about our court system that needs to improve further, and we are working diligently to bring those needed improvements to the rest of our system.”

One of the main things that she discussed was her Excellence Initiative, which she introduced when she was appointed as chief judge and has made her top priority. The program aims to speed up the judicial process including eliminating backlogs and delays in the system.

“Throughout the process, we have focused — with laser precision — on performance measures, particularly the percentage of cases pending over ‘standards and goals,’ our benchmarks for the timely resolution of cases,” DiFiore said. “In examining the root causes of delay, we have reminded ourselves of the value of standards and goals as an important management tool to measure how well we are performing when it comes to providing timely justice to all those whose justice needs we serve.”

To highlight the success of the program, she talked about the progress that has been made in the Bronx, where a 50 percent reduction in county’s oldest misdemeanor cases was achieved and a 32 percent reduction in pending misdemeanors overall from June 2016 to February 2017. The Kings County Supreme Court, Criminal Term, saw a nine percent reduction in the number of pending cases since October after an across-the-board reorganization of its case management process.

“We have overhauled how the courts process felony cases, and we are working closely with the New York City Department of Correction to improve prisoner transportation to produce defendants in a timely fashion.”

She then used Brooklyn as an example of the good work that the civil courts have done in speeding up the justice process as she noted that there was a 19 percent drop in the number of foreclosure cases, a 62 percent increase in the number of foreclosure cases resolved and the number of pending non-foreclosure cases has declined by 14 percent last year.

“Kings County Supreme Court, led by Administrative Judge Lawrence Knipel, has reduced the number of our oldest pending cases by 25 percent, and increased the number of foreclosures resolved by 62 percent,” DiFiore said.

Another focus of her address was the expansion of the Justice Task Force, which was created in 2009 by then Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman to focus on the causes that lead to wrongful convictions.

“I am expanding the original mission of the Justice Task Force to address broader issues of concern for a fair and effective criminal justice system, such as the impact of protracted delays on the disposition of cases, a review of ethical requirements and disciplinary measures for attorney conduct and systemic problems in affording all persons due process,” said DiFiore, who previously served as a co-chair of the task force.

DiFiore closed her speech by talking about the importance of taking a holistic approach to fixing the courts and speeding up the process.

“We are empowering our leaders with a clear vision and a clear set of values,” DiFiore said. “We have already seen what can be accomplished through refined leadership, creative thinking, collaboration and plain, old-fashioned hard work. In every courthouse, our judicial leaders and court managers are focused like never before on monitoring and improving the progress of caseloads, on supporting their staff and on devising practical solutions that make sense for their courts as they seek to deliver fair and timely justice.”

To read a transcript of the entire speech, go to nycourts.gov/admin/stateofjudiciary/