A person accused of assault sits in pretrial detention for eighteen months before their case is heard, then is acquitted. They lost their job, their housing, and contact with their children while legally innocent. A sexual assault survivor waits three years for trial, reliving trauma with each postponement, only to have the case collapse because witnesses have moved away and memories have faded. A family dispute over estate assets takes five years to resolve, draining resources into legal fees while relationships deteriorate beyond repair. Court delays have grown so severe in many jurisdictions that the constitutional right to a speedy trial has become nearly meaningless. Whether this represents catastrophic system failure requiring immediate intervention or an inevitable reality of complex justice processes divides those within and affected by the system.
The Case for Delays as Justice Denied
Advocates argue that slow justice is not justice at all. People held pretrial for months or years experience punishment before conviction, undermining the presumption of innocence. Many plead guilty not because they are guilty but because accepting a deal means immediate release while fighting charges means indefinite detention. Victims who wait years for trials often cannot proceed, with witnesses unavailable, evidence degraded, and their own capacity to testify eroded by time. Families in civil disputes over custody, support, or property face years of uncertainty that compounds the original harm. From this view, delays represent fundamental system failure. Courts lack adequate judges, staff, and resources to handle caseloads. Procedural complexity creates endless opportunities for postponement. Lawyers on both sides use delays strategically, knowing that time favors those who can wait. The solution requires massive investment: more judges, more courtrooms, more support staff, streamlined procedures that eliminate unnecessary steps, and enforcement of speedy trial rights that currently exist on paper but mean little in practice.