Cohort 2025
Southern Center for Human Rights
Observing Individual and Community Impacts of Case Processing Delays
Fulton County, GA
The criminal legal system is an array of complex legal processes, which means cases can take multiple hearings and months to reach resolution. Felony cases take an average of 256 days to reach a disposition, and in states that use money bail for release like Georgia (PDF), people who have been charged but not yet found guilty by a court of law can be held pretrial for extended periods. Despite Georgia’s legal requirement that pretrial detainees be released after 90 days if no indictment has been issued, in Fulton County, almost half of people detained pretrial were held past that limit without good cause. Holding people for extended periods before they are convicted can heighten racial disparities in case outcomes (PDF) and have collateral consequences for a person’s employment, housing, and connection to their community.
With Catalyst grant funding, the Southern Center for Human Rights will collect qualitative and quantitative data on people’s experiences and case outcomes in the Fulton County Superior Court. Court watchers will observe thousands of pre-indictment hearings for felony cases, using tablets to easily enter data, giving them more time to watch proceedings and collect data on how long pre-indictment hearings last, decisions about bond, delays in the process, and how people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds are treated. They will also integrate administrative data with their observations. Ultimately, the Southern Center for Human Rights will share the data and insights to increase the public’s awareness of the implications of court system processes and its understanding of how delays violate due process and harm individuals and the community.
