Addressing the Judicial Case Backlog Resulting from the COVID-19 Pandemic
With the provision of necessary additional staff, Chatham County Courts were able to employ a combination of evidence-based case management practices, and thereby: created additional dockets; implemented processes for the early identification and processing of serious violent offenders; adopted firm deadlines for rapid resolutions, including weekly trial settings; and increased use of virtual video court proceedings and other available technologies.
Performance Indicators:
October 2021 - June 2022
860 civil cases, 1493 domestic cases, and 1900 criminal cases from the judicial caseload backlog were disposed of.
July 2022 - June 2023
1157 civil cases, 1722 domestic cases, and 2813 criminal cases from the judicial caseload backlog were disposed of.
“We’ve been making full use of our senior judges. We’re very fortunate in Chatham County to have three full-time senior judges. We were able to turn a jail courtroom into a courtroom that we could use, because we were able to livestream from there. And lastly, we had the unending and amazingly great cooperation from everyone that’s been involved, particularly in the criminal justice system.”
“It was a godsend, really, when you look at it. We were able to pivot.”
- The Hon. Penny Haas Freeseman, Chief Judge Chatham County Superior Court
For more information on this project, contact: PHFreese@chathamcounty.org
