PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Violent crime continues to be at the top of the agenda as Philadelphia City Council prepares to wrap up budget hearings this week. On Tuesday, it was the court system’s turn before Council.
During the hearing — still being conducted online, a holdover from the coronavirus pandemic — Council President Darrell Clarke told Richard McSorley, the first judicial district's court administrative officer, that Philadelphians feel a sense of lawlessness in the city — which most people believe is unprecedented.
“In that conversation,” said Clarke, “the court system has come up as one of the entities that has been a part of the problem.”
Clarke pointed to the lag in criminal cases getting to trial.
McSorley acknowledged that the pandemic had put the system on hold and said it has been back up and running since last summer with some caveats: Jury trials are still a challenge, with no more than eight a day safely possible.
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The biggest problem, McSorley said, was “other justice partners” — presumably district attorneys and public defenders — not being ready when cases are scheduled.
“We are bringing them to the table. It’s just that sometimes the table’s not properly set by everybody at the table, and the cases are not going as fast as we would like to see,” he said.
McSorley says the courts have prioritized gun cases in an effort to curb crime.