The existence of Judicial Branch does not harm criminals. The way it worked before Judicial is that cops would simply arrest, file an arrest report and so be it.
What JB allows today has forced police officers to adopt a higher standard in their work. Years before (and I don't mean to bash PD, this actually comes off of a conversation I recently had on their Discord) they'd file a (compared to today's standard) mediocre arrest report and called it a day. Criminals would simply have to suck it up and they'd have no way of removing their convictions or challenging the PD's decisions.
JB existing today DOES NOT make it worse for criminals. Sure, wait times are long and trials take a shit ton of time (I'll address this at the end) to take place, but it provides people an opportunity for someone else (JB members) to make their case, attend the trial and possibly obtain compensation for the police's fuckup. The way it currently is, allows criminals to no longer be forced to suck up whatever cops charge them with, and at the same times, cops can no longer come up with bullshit charges, and if they do, eventually the court rules against them. I am not meaning to say cops are all bad, totally not. They hold themselves to high standards, but JB has allowed for the bad ones to stand out for their crappy arrests.
As for the people who have been indicted: An indictment being filled, again, does not damage anybody's roleplay. When someone's invicted they don't get arrested, they don't get disallowed from joining factions, nothing happens in practice until the date of the trial where the decision gets taken.
Now, I am not saying this to excuse the length of the cases. Unfortunately it comes down to a manpower issue, lack of activity from key members (us, judges) and also how hard it is some times to get in touch with defendants. There's a lot of inner workings for a case: Prosecutors have to reach out to PD/SD, then they have to provide arrest reports, some times they have to make witness statements, then the prosecution has to analyze that, then the defense attacks the evidence, etc. It is lengthy roleplay, but NONE of it DAMAGES what the criminals do. If anything, it allows some criminals to get some cash back for bogus charges, although at a way later date.
However, it would be selfish for us to just say "It doesn't damage you, stop whining". That is why we have (and are on the verge of announcing it publicly) implemented methods that will allow smaller cases to move very quickly, where we'll allow people to have their day in court literally at the time of arrest or very close to it.
TL;DR: JB's wait times depend on a lot of factors. We are doing big efforts in ensuring that those within our control are in order now. We have managed to get more cases moving and closed in the last month than probably in the first semester of this year alone. We are also implementing changes that will allow for more fun and quick experiences for people to get involved and not wait a thousand days for their time in Court. At the end of the day, however, criminals DONT have to be a part of this roleplay if they don't want to, and there are no negative consequences if they decide to participate. If JB didn't exist they'd still have to serve their time and go on about their business but this shouldn't be the case and we should work towards guaranteeing speedy trials and the likes.
