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| Paperwork Policy Causes Sentencing Delays |
| By WJXT News4Jax.com (Jacksonville, FL) |
| Published: 12/03/2001 |
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When a defendant in Duval County headed from jail to court, the sheriff's office has always sent along their jail records. At least until Nov. 1, when the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office stopped the practice, saying they couldn't continue to spend the time necessary to sort through those 600,000 files every day. But when the files stopped coming, many judges stopped sentencing convicted prisoners. Some judges have not sentenced anyone for three weeks. 'There will be some point where there will be enough cases that will be passed, waiting for information, it could effect the jail population,' Judge Michael Weatherby said. 'It certainly will impact my case load on a day to day basis.' The sheriff's office told WJXT that it took 8 hours every day to pull the files, 4 hours to sort them, and 8 hours to put them back. Beyond the time commitment, they said that too many files have been lost on their way to the courthouse. 'It's been a practice we have tried to discontinue many times because it's a bad practice,' Chief Carol Hladki said. 'We're sensitive to the judges issues. Were not trying to ignore their needs or concerns.' While the JSO has provided the files for 30 years, they said judges can get the information from other sources. And with an accreditation review of the department a few weeks away, they insisted the change be made now. Many of the records are being scanned into computer files so that judges, lawyers and detectives can have instant access. But the process won't be completed for two years. |
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