DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/FJVG-2M30
Defense Date
2015
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Department
Public Policy & Administration
First Advisor
Robyn McDougle
Second Advisor
Richard Vacca
Third Advisor
Henry Brownstein
Fourth Advisor
Mark Christie
Abstract
State court systems function in much the same manner as any other government agency in terms of organization and management to utilize public resources in order to provide a public service. The question posed in the late 19th century was whether the courts should be organized and managed as they had been for centuries as local entities locally controlled and operated or transferred to the state level. The desired end was a more efficient use of public resources to achieve faster disposition of cases. This reorganization, called unification, was made up of three individual components: 1) consolidation required the reduction in the number of types of trial court in a state to one or two 2) centralization required the surrendering to the state's chief justice, later the newly created office of state court administrator, all managerial control over these courts, and 3) judicial rulemaking required removing from the legislature the power to create rules of practice and procedure in the courts, instead turning that power over to the courts themselves in the form of judicial councils or later state supreme courts. Unification, relying on principles of scientific management, served as the basis for state court reorganization for nearly a century, however the assumption that consolidation, centralization, and judicial rulemaking would lead to greater levels of efficiency in the courts remained effectively untested. Data for the year 2013 was collected to measure state court efficiency in two ways: case clearance rates (number of cases disposed divided by the number of cases filed) and case clearance rates per judge (number of cases disposed divided by the number of judges). An ordinary least squares regression found no apparent relationship between a state's level of unification and its ability to clear its trial court caseloads.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
12-16-2015
Included in
Courts Commons, Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons, Public Administration Commons, Public Affairs Commons, Public Policy Commons