INC NEWS - Text of Court Funding Resolution

[pat carstensen]

If neighborhoods want to make their own resolutions on court funding (in 
sort of the reverse of what we are doing on solid waste), here is the text 
of the INC resolution.

Regards, Pat Carstensen

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Court Resources Resolution for INC Meeting- January 25,2005

Whereas:

The Durham courts are understaffed by standards set by the Administrator of 
Courts.

Only 2.7% of the annual appropriations of the Legislature are allocated to 
the criminal justice system, making full staffing of the courts in North 
Carolina impossible.

The District Attorney has three grant-funded ADAs that will leave in June or 
July of 2005. Without replacements, the average number of days to try a 
Superior Court felony case will likely lengthen from the current 245 days.

The Clerk of Court is authorized to have 4.67 more clerks than can currently 
be hired because of budget constraints.

One additional magistrate for Durham was in the House bill reported out 
during the short session last year but removed in conference.

Funds for the Youth Treatment court are set to sunset in 2005, closing the 
court.


Resolved:

We, the members of ____The InterNeighborhood Council of Durham____, do 
strongly request the Durham Delegation to the North Carolina General 
Assembly to do whatever is necessary to secure funding to add three 
permanent assistant district attorney positions, one magistrate position, 
two clerk positions, and funds to operate the Youth Treatment Court during 
the 2005-2006 session.

We consider these resources to be among the most important resources that 
can be made available to Durham during the 2005-2006 General Assembly 
sessions.