Workload Measurement for Juvenile Justice System Personnel: Practices and Needs

• NCJ Number: 178895
• Date Published: December 1999
• Author(s): Hunter Hurst III
• Agencies: OJJDP
• Publication Series: OJJDP Juvenile Accountability Block Grants Series
• Publication Type: Survey

Annotation

This bulletin, one in a series featuring Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants Program (JAIBG) best practices, describes workload measurements for judges, court-appointed defenders, probation officers, and pretrial service staff.

Abstract

With the growth of juvenile referrals for serious and violent offenses, demands on the limited resources of juvenile courts are greater than ever. To help States meet these demands, the JAIBG program provides Federal funds to increase the number of juvenile court personnel and to enhance the quality of juvenile court pretrial services. To establish appropriate hiring priorities and make the most effective use of such funds, States and local jurisdictions need to be able to analyze current workloads and forecast future needs. Current approaches to measuring judge workloads are described, including weighted caseload, Delphi, and normative methods. Classification systems for probation officers and pretrial service staff are examined, difficulties in developing workload standards are noted, and guidelines on the development of a workload measurement framework for the future are offered. The author indicates that workload measurement skills need to be enhanced to maximize society's return on its investment in juvenile court resources. 37 references