§3165 District plans—generally

Summary

Each United States district court must study how criminal cases are handled in the district and by its magistrate judges and must create plans for disposing of criminal cases. The court must make those plans after talking with the Federal Judicial Center and the district planning group under section 3168. The planning must try to move criminal cases faster while following the chapter’s time limits and supporting fair treatment, effective law enforcement, efficient court administration, and better understanding of how the system works. It must try to avoid too little or too much enforcement or biased enforcement, harm to civil cases, undue pressure, and unnecessary trial delays. Each plan must be sent to a reviewing panel made up of the circuit’s judicial council members and either the district’s chief judge or another active district judge the chief judge names. If the panel approves, the plan goes to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, which reports yearly to the Judicial Conference. A district court may change its plan with the panel’s approval and must change it if the panel or the Judicial Conference orders. Changes are reported to the Administrative Office. Deadlines: before the end of the twelve-calendar-month period after July 1, 1975 the courts had to submit plans to cover the second and third twelve-month periods after the effective date of sections 3161(b) and 3161(c); before the end of the thirty-six-calendar-month period after July 1, 1975 they had to submit plans to cover the fourth and fifth twelve-month periods; and by June 30, 1980 each court not ordered under section 3174(c) had to submit a plan to cover the sixth and later twelve-month periods after the effective date of 3161(b) and 3161(c) in effect prior to the date of enactment of that paragraph. Plans and planning group recommendations become public when adopted or completed.