Hearing Continuances & Case Timeliness (Across Pipeline Stages)

Pipeline 04C

Transparency note: hearing-level data are often incomplete for small jurisdictions. Timeliness indicators are pooled by quarter and annotated when time standards or scheduling systems change.

Overview

Timeliness is a central quality indicator for youth justice systems. Continuances—delays or rescheduling of hearings— are common but can extend overall case duration and affect engagement. This page explains how timeliness is defined, how continuances are tracked, and how jurisdictions assess compliance with statutory and administrative standards.

What We Track

Time Standards

Statutory deadlines from referral → adjudication → disposition
Internal court benchmarks
- 30 / 60 / 90-day rules
- Local scheduling guidelines

Continuance Metrics

Frequency of continuances per stage
Reason codes
- Counsel request
- Discovery delay
- Court congestion
- Participant availability / interpreter
Total added days from continuances

Case Duration

Average & median days between key milestones
- Referral → Petition
- Petition → Adjudication
- Adjudication → Disposition
- Disposition → Closure

Backlog & Scheduling

Open cases exceeding time standards (count & share)
Effects on hearing availability (calendar capacity, average days to next slot)

Equity & Access

Timeliness variation by subgroup
- Race/ethnicity
- Geography (urban/rural)
- Representation status (counsel present/appointed)

Typical Flow

Case filed and assigned to docket; timeline begins
- Select baseline: referral date or petition date (document choice)
Hearing scheduled; continuances tracked with reason codes
- Record scheduled date/time and any resets
- Start/stop timeliness clock across resets
Elapsed time between scheduled and actual hearing measured
- Assess backlog impact (days delayed beyond target window)
Disposition entered with closure timestamp
- Compute total days from baseline → disposition and to closure
Review timeliness indicators quarterly
- Annotate statutory or policy changes (mark series breaks)
- Report disparities and capacity constraints with notes

Fields

Field	Type	Required	Codeset	Description
pipeline_place_id	uuid	✅	—	Unique identifier for this pipeline place row.
pipeline_stage_id	enum	✅	stages.yml#stage_key(8) intake detention adjudication disposition supervision commitment_and_placement reentry closure	One of the 8 canonical stages.
pipeline_place_key	enum	✅	pipeline_places.yml#place_key(45) intake pre_petition_diversion_and_deflection diversion youth_assessment_tools prosecutorial_screening status_offenses adjudication case_planning family_engagement case_timeliness language_access restorative_justice detention_screening community_atds electronic_monitoring court_appearance_and_fta initial_hearing pretrial_supervision probation intensive_supervision …and 25 more	Canonical key for this place (maps to route/slug).
youth_id	string	✅	—	Salted/hashed or state UID. No plaintext PII.
staff_id	string		—	Judicial officer or clerk setting/resetting the schedule.
occurred_datetime	datetime	✅	—	Timestamp this schedule/reset was entered.
jurisdiction_code	string	✅	—	County/parish/circuit or standardized local code.
legal_case_id	string		—	Case/docket identifier.
source_system	string	✅	—	Origin system name.
source_file	string		—	Source batch/file id if flatfile.
extract_run_id	string		—	ETL run id for lineage.
series_break_flag	boolean		—	Comparability break applies to this row.
series_break_reason	enum		series_breaks.yml#reason(4) definition_change vendor_change coverage_change policy_change	Reason for break when flagged (e.g., standard change).
hearing_id	string		—	Identifier of the hearing instance this schedule/reset applies to.
hearing_type_code	enum		hearing_types.yml#type(5) initial review violation adjudication_related other	Adjudication, disposition, review, combined, etc.
location_site_id	string		—	Courthouse/courtroom or remote host site ID.
timeliness_baseline_code	enum		timeliness_baselines.yml#baseline⚠️ using timeliness_baselines.yml#standard(5) statutory_30 statutory_60 statutory_90 local_guideline internal_benchmark	referral_date or petition_date.
baseline_datetime	datetime		—	Timestamp of the selected timeliness baseline.
time_standard_code	enum		❌ missing in _index.yml	Statutory/administrative/local standard applied to this hearing.
time_standard_days	integer		—	Target days for the selected standard (e.g., 30/60/90).
scheduled_datetime	datetime	✅	—	Scheduled date/time for the hearing at this event.
actual_datetime	datetime		—	Actual date/time the hearing occurred (if it occurred at this sequence).
reset_sequence_number	integer		—	0 for initial setting; increments with each continuance/reset.
reset_flag	boolean		—	This event represents a continuance/reset of the hearing.
continuance_reason_code	enum		continuance_reasons.yml#reason(13) witness_unavailable discovery_pending counsel_conflict court_calendar youth_health other_good_cause counsel_request discovery_delay court_congestion participant_availability interpreter_needed weather_emergency other	Reason for reset (counsel_request, discovery_delay, congestion, availability/interpreter, etc.).
continuance_requested_by_code	enum		request_parties.yml#party(6) youth_counsel prosecution court guardian_caregiver interpreter_service other	Which party requested the continuance.
continuance_days_added	integer		—	Days added to the case timeline due to this reset (structure only).
backlog_flag	boolean		—	Case exceeded the applicable time standard at this event.
days_to_next_available_slot	integer		—	Estimated days to next available calendar slot when reset.
capacity_constraint_code	enum		capacity_constraints.yml#constraint(6) court_congestion judge_unavailable courtroom_unavailable staffing_shortage technology_failure other	Calendar capacity driver (e.g., court_congestion, judge_unavailable).
compliance_status_code	enum		compliance_statuses.yml#status(4) on_time late tol_exempt excluded	on_time, late, tol_exempt, excluded (snapshot label).
counsel_status_code	enum		counsel_statuses.yml#status(9) appointed retained present_unknown not_present present_retained present_appointed appointment_ordered waived unknown	appointed, retained, present_unknown, not_present.
Download CSVwhat_we_track.csv

Data & Methods

Timeliness metrics use event-level timestamps (referral, petition, adjudication, disposition). Continuance reasons follow standardized code sets. Duration distributions are reported as median, mean, and 90th percentile to mitigate skew. Backlog ratios (open beyond standard ÷ total active) track systemic delay. When courts revise case management systems or time rules, we mark series breaks. Suppression and trend conventions follow Suppression & Small-n and Trend Interpretation & Baseline Selection. Cross-site comparability is maintained through standardized interval definitions in Denominators & Exposure Time.

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