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Can Courtroom Sharing Reduce Courthouse Construction Costs? A Preliminary Review
Author(s) -
Ebenstein Avi,
Musell R. Mark
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
public budgeting and finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.694
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1540-5850
pISSN - 0275-1100
DOI - 10.1111/0275-1100.00052
Subject(s) - variety (cybernetics) , space (punctuation) , government (linguistics) , worry , public relations , business , law , political science , computer science , psychology , anxiety , philosophy , linguistics , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , operating system
The federal government has a large backlog of office and other space needs. Some policymakers argue that more sharing of courtrooms by federal judges would lower courthouse construction costs and free resources for other purposes. Others worry that sharing of courtrooms would increase trial delays and other costs. Decision makers employ a variety of techniques to better understand and to help guide decisions about issues like courtroom sharing. This analysis applies one such technique to simulate the flow of trials through a federal court system and to assess the impact on trial delays of providing less then one courtroom per judge. The preliminary findings suggest no significant impact.