New study: State needs 17 more judicial officers

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Indiana Lawyer on 9/23/2016 by Dave Stafford

The biggest assessment of Indiana trial court caseloads and resources ever conducted reveals state trial courts need 17 more judges, magistrates and judicial officers than currently allocated.

A study conducted for the Indiana judiciary by the National Center for State Courts surveyed judges and judicial officers in every county of the state who tracked the time they spent on cases last October. The report assigned weight to the case types based on time required and complexity.

“Application of the case weights to calendar year 2015 filings results in the need for a total of 467.97 judicial officer full-time equivalents,” the report says. “As of August 31, 2015, Indiana has 450.92 judicial officer FTEs, which results in a need for 16.98 additional judicial officer FTEs.”

The greatest needs among the state’s largest counties are in Vanderburgh, where six more judicial officers are needed to in addition to the 14 current officers; Allen County, which needs 4.6 judicial officers in addition to its 23; Marion County, which needs four more in addition to its 78; and Tippecanoe, which could use another 2.6 judicial officers in addition to its current level of about 8.8 full-time equivalent jurists.