Drug-Related Cases Could Clog Courts, Lucas Warns

Chief Justice Malcolm M. Lucas, leading pleas by leaders of the legal profession for action on the drug problem, called Sunday for more courts and judges to handle a soaring increase in drug-related cases that threatens to clog the California judicial system.

Lucas, appearing at the annual meeting of the State Bar of California, called President Bush’s drug program “laudable,” but noted that efforts to arrest more drug dealers inevitably would lead to greater reliance on the courts.

“One expected result, of course, is more convictions, but there has been little provision or discussion of the need for more judges and courtrooms,” he said.

Asks for More Resources

Pointing out that only 1.5% of all state and local budgets are devoted to judicial operations, Lucas urged that “additional resources” be devoted to the courts to assure prompt resolution of both criminal and civil cases.

Lucas’ call, issued in his annual State of the Judiciary address, followed a dramatic plea by a Los Angeles judge for concerted action by the legal profession to help the courts deal with the impact of cocaine and other illegal drugs.

Superior Court Judge Candace D. Cooper, president of the California Judges Assn., said that criminal cases in downtown Los Angeles courts had increased from 7,684 in 1981 to 16,965 in 1988, with a “substantial majority” of the increase attributable to drug cases.

On another front, she said, the number of murder cases in that area--many of which involve drugs--was up 43% in the first seven months of 1989 over the same period last year. At any one time, half or more of the trial judges are involved in murder proceedings, she added.

“These cases are overwhelming the criminal justice system,” Cooper said. If judges are forced to work at an even faster pace, she said, “we’re going to sound like a chorus of Alvin and the Chipmunks.”

Personal Reform Urged

Cooper also made an appeal for personal reform within the judicial profession. “If you are a recreational user of cocaine, quit,” she said. “If you have a more serious problem, seek some assistance. If you know others in that status, work with them as their friend.”

The speech drew a warm response from the hundreds of assembled delegates.

Lucas later diverted from his own prepared remarks to praise Cooper. “I want to say amen and right on to everything she said,” the chief justice said.

Concern over drugs was also a dominant theme in a speech by Los Angeles attorney Alan I. Rothenberg, the incoming president of the State Bar.

Rothenberg said the courts are “overwhelmed” by criminal cases, largely as the result of increased drug-trafficking, and that the civil justice system “is teetering on the brink of collapse.”

He pledged a wide-ranging inquiry into ways to ease court congestion and impose other reforms.

Among questions to be studied, he said, are whether to decrease the size of juries, limit pretrial questioning of prospective jurors by attorneys and eliminate preliminary hearings or merge them with arraignments.

Rothenberg also said he would create a special Bar task force to study substance abuse within the profession. Among other things, it will create model programs for law firms, legal departments and other groups, he said.

In his speech, Lucas said there was an urgent need for education, prevention and treatment programs to combat drug use.

“Courts alone cannot stem the tide,” he said. “Increased reliance and pressure on the courts to handle the drug problem without affording adequate resources to do the job or address the root causes for this pervasive intruder in our society can harm our entire legal system.”

Racial, Ethnic Bias Inquiry

Lucas, in his capacity as head of the state Judicial Council, also said he would create an advisory committee to study bias against racial and ethnic minorities in state courts.

Pointing to California’s changing ethnic mix, Lucas said the committee would “consider how best to deal with any problems that may already exist and to meet additional challenges that are sure to develop in the future.”

A similar committee already has been at work on a study of sex bias in the courts.