Felony Case Processing in New York City: Findings and Recommendations

With the goal of reducing case-processing time for felony cases in New York City, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice commissioned this study to understand the reasons for lengthy delays. As three-quarters of the city’s jail population is being held pretrial, improving processing times could significantly reduce the use of jail. The report found that delays stem from the cumulative effect of many factors including a failure to resolve felony cases prior to an indictment (since indicted cases routinely last ten months or longer); lengthy adjournments between each set of court appearances; and particularly long delays in resolving any case requiring a trial. The report proposes a number of concrete reforms to improve felony case-processing times.