NEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Two reports published this week conclude that budget cuts to the New York state judiciary have strained virtually every aspect of the court system, increasing delays, necessitating layoffs and adversely impacting those who depend on it for justice -- particularly poor litigants with limited resources.

On Thursday, the New York County Lawyers' Association released a report based on hours of public testimony from lawyers, judges and advocates at a hearing in December on the impact of $170 million in reductions to the 2011-12 court budget. That report came one day after the New York State Bar Association published its own 68-page report after months of interviewing and surveying judges, attorneys and bar members from across the state.

"The impact of reductions in funding for New York State courts during the 2011-2012 year has been substantially harmful and far-reaching," the state bar association's report said, adding that the cuts have created an "eroded sense of public confidence" in the judiciary.

The reports echo what many advocates, court administrators, judges and lawyers have said for months about the effect of the cuts, which were imposed by the governor and the state legislature last year as part of a broader effort to close a massive statewide budget gap.

"The painful judicial budgets cuts the state and federal courts experienced in 2011 not only jeopardize the rule of law but significantly reduce access to justice and public safety in fundamental ways, with a disproportionately adverse effect on the quality of justice administered to families, children and the indigent," the NYCLA report concluded.

'NO DOUBT' THAT CUTS HAVE IMPACT

A. Gail Prudenti, the state's chief administrative judge, said she has been looking closely at how the court system's budget funds should be allocated going forward.

"There is no doubt that we acknowledge that the budget cuts have had an impact on the court," Prudenti said in an interview Wednesday. "But we also believe very strongly that we are doing our best."

The budget cuts have forced the OCA to make several tough decisions, according to the reports.

A decrease in courtroom hours as a result of a sharply reduced overtime budget has left court dockets overcrowded and lengthened the amount of time that trials and other court business require. With rare exceptions, judges now end court no later than 4:30 p.m., even when testimony is ongoing or a jury is deliberating.

That has made it more challenging to seat jurors and has put pressure on jurors to complete their deliberations as quickly as possible.

And delays in cases have had a ripple effect on the entire docket.

In Ulster County, for example, securing a date for a civil trial took five months before the cuts, but now routinely lasts a year or more, according to the NYSBA report.

Criminal defendants are more frequently held for longer than 24 hours between their arrest and arraignment, in violation of a constitutional mandate, the reports said. And incarcerated defendants awaiting trial must spend more time behind bars while they wait for their cases to proceed.

'CHILDREN BEAR THE BRUNT'

The NYSBA report noted that emergency cases -- such as child custody and domestic violence cases -- cannot be heard the same day they are filed, forcing families to incur the expense of additional child care and time off from work.

The near-elimination of the judicial hearing officer program, in which retired judges heard specialized cases, has added to judges' workload, the reports said. Layoffs of court staff have increased wait times for litigants planning to file paperwork and for members of the public seeking access to court buildings.

The already overburdened family courts have struggled to keep up as well.

In written testimony to the state bar association last week, Edwina Richardson-Mendelson, the administrative judge for New York City Family Courts, said that on some days petitioners cannot file court papers because of reduced hours and staff, and that open court dates are sometimes unavailable for months.

"In Family Court, the children bear the brunt of this," she said. "They wait longer and longer (sometimes years) to go home from foster care, or to find out which parent they will live with."

While the court system has taken steps to stretch its dollars this year, it continues to grapple with severe budgetary constraints.

The OCA's proposed 2012-13 $2.3 billion spending plan would cut $19 million from the current year's budget. But the budget has drawn praise from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who criticized the OCA last year for failing to make sufficient cuts in its initial proposal.

"I think the governor has clearly recognized that this budget has really taken a good hard look at restructuring and reengineering the court system," Prudenti said. "In these unprecedented times of financial crisis, we have done very well with the resources that we have."

The budget does increase funding in at least one area: free civil legal services for litigants who cannot afford a lawyer, an effort Prudenti said was particularly important given the fragile state of the economy.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax)

Follow us on Twitter: @ReutersLegal