If you’ve ever been pulled into the justice system, one of the first shocks is how slowly everything moves. Weeks turn into months, months turn into years. The system takes exactly one milisecond to tangle you up and then it takes months if not years to escape. Court dates get set, then reset, then pushed again.
People are told the same thing over and over; to be patient. But what they aren’t told is who really pays the price for waiting.
Delay Isn’t an Accident—It’s Structural
Continuances, Docket Overload, and Limbo as Punishment… Oh my!
Court delays are not usually the result of laziness or utter chaos. Instead, they are baked into the system. Most criminal courts are dealing with:
- Overloaded dockets
- Staff shortages
- Prosecutors and public defenders handling far more cases than recommended
- Judges managing hundreds of matters at once
When there are more cases than time, delay becomes the default. And it’s not uncommon for things to be shifted again and again to accommodate more pressing matters.
What a Continuance Actually Is
A continuance is a request to move a court date. They happen constantly and for many reasons:
- Attorneys need more time to review evidence
- Discovery hasn’t been turned over
- Witnesses aren’t available
- Lawyers are double-booked
- Courts simply run out of time
Continuances are routine. They are also rarely neutral.
Delay Is Free for the System
For the court, delay means:
- Another date on the calendar
- Another salaried appearance
- Another file moved down the line
No one in the system pays extra for postponement.
There are no late fees for delay. No financial penalties for dragging cases out. No automatic accountability when limbo stretches on. Time costs the system very little; they know the work will be there tomorrow.
Delay Is Punitive for People
For defendants and families, however, delay is expensive. Every continuance can mean:
- Missing more work
- Paying additional attorney fees
- Rearranging childcare
- Traveling repeatedly to court
- Living under ongoing stress and uncertainty
Even when someone is legally “innocent until proven guilty,” their life is often on hold. Limbo becomes a sentence without a verdict.
Pretrial Conditions Make Waiting Even Harder
Many people are not simply waiting; they are waiting under restrictions. Pretrial conditions can include:
- Travel limits
- Regular check-ins
- Drug testing
- No-contact orders
- Employment barriers
These conditions don’t pause while the case drags on. They extend (sometimes for years) without a conviction.
Why Cases Don’t “Just Get Dismissed”
People often ask why weak cases aren’t dismissed quickly. The answer is uncomfortable:
- Delay creates leverage
- Time pressures people to plead
- Exhaustion moves cases without trials
When waiting becomes unbearable, resolution, any resolution, starts to feel like relief;
it’s justice by attrition.
Who Delay Hurts the Most
Court delays hit hardest when people have the least margin, because they disproportionately harm:
- Low-income families
- Hourly workers
- Caregivers
- People with unstable housing
- Those already navigating trauma or illness
For people with resources, delay is inconvenient. For people without, it can be absolutely devastating, costing them their jobs and upending their lives.
This Isn’t About Individual Blame
Again, I am not a complete monster. I believe that most judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys are not trying to harm people through delay. They are operating inside a system designed for volume, not humanity.
It’s impact that matters more than intent.A system that normalizes prolonged limbo quietly uses time as yet another tool of control.
Pulling It All Together
Court dates take forever because the system is overloaded and because delay carries no cost for the state. But delay is never neutral. It costs people their stability, their health, their income, and their mental health long before guilt or innocence is even decided.
We really need to call delay what it often is: punishment without conviction, administered slowly enough to seem invisible.
