Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman called on state and New York City leaders Monday to consider decriminalizing some lower-level offenses that he said are needlessly clogging criminal court dockets in the city.

Lippman told attendees at a breakfast sponsored by the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City that he believes some of the misbehavior leading to the approximately 360,000 summonses issued in the city last year could be better dealt with administratively rather than through the courts.