P STRETCHES COURT SYSTEM TO ITS LIMITS

Justice officials have been forced to renovate buildings, send judges
on tour and consider adjusting current legislation to enable the High
Court to keep on top of its methamphetamine-related workload.

Justice Ministry figures released to the Herald show 54 per cent of
the cases sent to the High Court for trial or sentence last year - 213
out of 396 - were for meth-related offending.

In the Auckland High Court registry, methamphetamine-related cases as
a total of all High Court committals rose from 48 per cent in 2004 to
60 per cent last year.

Of the 146 High Court committals last year, 88 were for crimes alleged
to involve methamphetamine.

And the number of meth cases looks to be rising steadily as a
percentage of total High Court trials - from 41 per cent in 2004 and
49 per cent in 2005.

The onslaught of cases has forced officials to introduce a raft of
innovations to keep the High Court functioning.

High Court national operations general manager Graeme Astle says
wide-ranging measures initiated include the appointment of more judges
and court staff, and renovating of High Court buildings "to better
utilise space".

High Court judges - based in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch -
routinely travel to hear cases in the smaller centres, but those
judges could now be redistributed, as necessary, across the three main
centres as well.

A national roster system has been devised to balance demand in
higher-workload centres such as Auckland.

The recording of evidence, usually by a judge's assistant taking
typewritten notes, can be a tedious process in High Court trials, but
court organisers have moved to introduce digital recording and
transcription services to increase efficiency.

In other time-saving strategies, pre-trial conferencing between judge
and counsel and other parties is now occurring in criminal and civil
trials expected to run for more than 10 days.

Those conferences, it is hoped, will keep scheduled court fixtures on
track.

The Government is also considering legislation that would move some
methamphetamine offences back to the District Court.

The legislation - known as middle-banding - does not yet have an
official title, and has yet to make it as far as hearings.

A spokesman for Courts Minister Rick Barker yesterday confirmed
tentative plans for an adjustment to the grading of methamphetamine
crimes.

The "logistics and thresholds" of such a move were still being
examined, Adham Crichton said.

"It would be a significant change, and they want to get it
right."

But the move already appears to have the support of the National
Party, as long as the backlog is not simply moved from the High to
District Court level.