Bernstien, Dan S., "Dynamics of New York City Court System", 1994
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For policy makers in New York City the functioning of the criminal justice system appears to be deteriorating. During the last few years arrests by police have dropped. However inmate population continued to increase for over a year after the drop in arrests. In spite of the drop in court case, or case load per judge, the average length of time to dispose of a case continued to increase. During this time, the total number of judges working in New York City increased, further dropping the average caseload. The importance of this topic lies in the resistance of the criminal justice system to change and the high total cost of the system. Recent policy goals of New York City management have been to reduce needed jail capacity by reducing both the intake of inmates and average lengths of stay. New York City officials estimated that by reducing the inmate length of stay by ten days savings of $108 million could be realized.