§3166 District Plans—contents

Summary

Each district's plan must explain how the district court, the U.S. attorney, the Federal public defender (if any), and experienced private defense lawyers have sped up—or plan to speed up—criminal trials and other case endings. The plan must describe the time limits, methods, procedures, and systems used, and how the district gathers and checks reliable data. It must report on nine specific topics, including why extensions were allowed, delays under section 3161(h), use or nonuse of sanctions and what they were, new timetables set for extensions, the effects of time limits and sanctions on prosecution, defense, courts, corrections, costs, transfers and appeals, pretrial detention details and remedies, cases needing different time limits for special reasons, each 30‑day extension under section 3161(b) and its reason, and how meeting time limits in subsections (b) and (c) of section 3161 affects the civil case calendar. The plan must also give seven kinds of statistics about local criminal-justice administration. These include time spans (arrest to indictment, indictment to trial, conviction to sentencing); counts of matters sent to the U.S. Attorney and how many were prosecuted; transfers to other districts or States; cases disposed by trial or plea; rates of nolle prosequi, dismissal, acquittal, conviction, diversion, or other outcomes; preadjudication detention numbers and days in custody or at liberty; and civil case data for the prior twelve-calendar-month period showing new filings, cases pending at the close of that period, the change from the previous twelve months, and how long those cases have been pending. The plan must list any rule changes, statutory amendments, or funding needed to make further improvements. It must recommend reporting forms, procedures, and time rules to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. The Director of that Office, with approval of the Judicial Conference of the United States, will set forms and procedures consistent with section 3170 after considering the plan. A circuit judicial council may also provide model guidelines for districts to use.