Lucas Details Plan for Studying Drug Crisis : Legal system: The chief justice’s State of the Judiciary talk focuses on long-term efforts to understand problems facing the courts.

Chief Justice Malcolm M. Lucas, seeking a “road map” for the future of the judiciary, disclosed plans Monday for a wide-ranging study of the drug crisis and other persistent problems facing the courts in the next 30 years.

Lucas, in his second annual State of the Judiciary address to the Legislature, said a newly designed commission on the future--called “2020 Vision”--will study how demographic shifts and environmental, technological and economic developments are likely to affect the courts.

The commission, inspired by a wave of drug-related cases that have flooded the state courts in recent years, among other things will grapple with the impact of the drug problem on the coming generation.

“We know thousands of children have been born affected by drug use by their mothers (and) it appears many of these children will have difficulty functioning in society,” Lucas said in a speech set for delivery before a joint session of the lawmakers.

“What will be the consequences of hundreds of thousands of children who are being raised knowing only abuse, neglect, addiction and violence?”

The chief justice said also that officials are seeking a way to forecast the impact on the justice system of new legislation, such as measures that increase prison terms for certain crimes or that establish new grounds on which to bring civil suits.

Such a mechanism would appear to be a judicial variation of environmental impact reports, in which by law proposed new developments must be evaluated as to their likely effects on the environment.

In recent years, concerns have been raised in legal circles over the unanticipated but often far-reaching effects of some new legislation--for example, new laws mandating stiffer sentences for a wide variety of crimes that have resulted in more and more criminals being sent to already crowded prisons.

Lucas said the aim of the new “futures group” will be to “try to create a road map for the judiciary’s future so we can study what lies ahead for our justice system, anticipate change, and plot strategies for the future.”

At present, a working group of judges, lawyers and administrators is laying the foundation for 2020 Vision. According to Andrea Biren, a senior attorney for the state Judicial Council, plans call for creation of a 40-member commission that will be highly diverse in makeup, ranging from academics to members of the public.

“We’re hoping this commission will think of things we (in the legal community) can’t think of,” said Biren. “We want to stretch our minds.”

State Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) said after the speech that formation of the special commission was an “innovative idea” and “a good example of how the three branches of government should work together.”

The idea for the commission was born out of the impact on the courts of an explosion of drug cases in California. From 1983 through 1989, drug prosecutions--not including marijuana offenses--rose from about 70,000 to more than 130,000. Last year, Lucas warned that trial courts in the state were “close to foundering” because of the dramatic surge in such cases.

Court officials are currently seeking a $300,000 grant from the State Justice Institute to help finance a broad-based statewide commission modeled after a national group now studying the future of the nation’s courts.

On other topics, Lucas:

* Reminded legislators that although the judicial branch provides “one-third of our government’s function,” judicial operations receive only 1.8% of total state and local budgets. “The margin on which courts operate is thin,” Lucas said in a plea for more court funding. “We cannot cut back by refusing to file 10% of cases or telling litigants to try filing again next year when we may have room.”

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) said that a request for more money for the California judiciary “would not be unreasonable” and that the Legislature may approve a higher appropriation. But Brown said the sticking point could well be Gov. Pete Wilson, who would have to approve funding.

* Reported that from fiscal 1987 to 1990, the total number of cases filed in the state’s courts--not including parking cases--increased from 10.5 million to 11.25 million. During the same period, felony criminal prosecutions in superior courts increased 44%.

* Called for more judges to assist California’s 1,500-member judiciary in handling mounting caseloads. No new judgeships have been created since 1987, but the state’s population has increased by 750,000 a year. One measure pending in the Legislature would create 359 new judicial positions throughout the state.

* Said that several special pilot programs aimed at reducing delay in the courts had proved a “highly effective tool.” In Alameda County, for example, 94% of general civil cases are being completed within two years of filing, compared to 66% in 1988. In Sacramento, the average length of cases in the program dropped from 15 months to nine months, he said.