Published: November 24, 2009 08:34 pm      

Criminal case backlog being lowered

By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — The wheels of justice may move slowly, but these days the wheels are turning a little faster in Jefferson County.

“This year we have disposed of more cases than we have filed,” Jefferson County State’s Attorney Jeff Bradley said. “I’m not telling you the problem is solved, but we’re making headway. ... We have never been able to work on the backlog of cases since I started working in the state’s attorney’s office in 2002.”

According to information provided by the Jefferson County Circuit Clerk’s office to the state for compilation in the Annual Report of the Illinois Courts, the year began with a backlog of 1,231 felony cases and 797 misdemeanor cases. During the three quarters of the year which have been reported, there have been 177 new felony cases filed and 204 new misdemeanor cases filed. Cases which have been disposed during the three quarters are 243 felony cases and 169 misdemeanor cases.

“One of my stated policies is that we will move cases and clean up the backlog,” Bradley said. “It can’t be fixed overnight, but we’re better off than we were when we started.”

Criminal cases filed in the county have continued to climb steadily during the past 10 years.

“In 1996, there were 320 felony cases alone filed in Jefferson County,” Bradley said. “In 2006, we filed nearly 850 felony cases. And, during that 10 year period, we lost staff. When you look at what’s been done this year, we have five lawyers who have disposed of 412 criminal cases so far.”

In 2006, there were only 248 criminal cases disposed in the county, according to the Annual Report of the Illinois Courts.

As of Oct. 31, there were 1,151 felony cases pending in Jefferson County, and 829 misdemeanor cases pending.

According to sentencing information, 49 of the felony convictions were sentenced to the Illinois Department of Corrections and 18 were sentenced to probation. Thirty-five felony convictions received other sentences, such as conditional discharge.

Bradley said the backlog is attributed to many things such as the length of time it takes to gather evidence, evaluate it and defendants that “drag their feet” during the judicial process. In addition, Bradley said there are other factors, including charging decisions that affected the case load.

“There were some charging decisions made by the prior administration by assistant state’s attorneys that contributed to the backlog,” Bradley explained. “They should have been resolved by the assistant state’s attorneys that filed those cases. ... We’re dealing with a problem we didn’t create but one we’re going to resolve.”