Does Iowa’s court system deserve more funding?
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Nearly a year after Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady pleaded for more funding for state courts, Eastern Iowa attorneys say the system still is operating with too few resources that cause costly delays and, in some cases, hamper the justice process.
The budget woes have had a broad impact, limiting clerk hours, cutting court reporters, overbooking courtrooms and spreading judges too thin.
In Johnson County, officials say, limited resources have caused lengthy trial delays. In Linn County, officials say, the rising cost of litigation has resulted in more plea agreements.
“Litigation has become increasing expensive, complicated, protracted and unpredictable,” Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden wrote in an email to The Gazette. “With fewer judicial resources to handle increasing case filings, there is more pressure to settle than to take them all the way to trial.”
The number of criminal jury trials in both Linn and Johnson counties is declining, according to statistics available through the middle of December. Prosecutors in Johnson County litigated just eight criminal jury trials in 2012, compared with 15 in 2011 and 18 in 2010.
Linn County had 10 criminal jury trials this year compared with 11 in 2011 and 24 in 2010. Vander Sanden said that with limited resources, settlements are tempting in that they also eliminate the risk of appeal.
What do you think? Does Iowa’s court system deserve more state funding to keep up with the caseload?
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Oh for heaven’s sake. It’s not a matter of “deserve” as if our judicial system were comprised of naughty children who “deserve” to have coal in their Christmas stocking. The question is do we want our judicial system to function the way it’s supposed to. Or don’t we care
Yes, the implication of the question is that the state judicial system is an unnecessary luxury item. It is one of the three pillars of government, not something to be punitively funded according to the momentary vision of bought-and-paid-for “representatives”, the current majority of whom are members of the increasingly-bizarre Iowa GOP. I think that funding planning for the court system should be turned over to a nonpartisan committee, in order to ensure that the state is getting the maximum return for its funding outlay without the overt presence of party politics corrupting the process.
Key to our foundation as a Constitutional Government are the court system. It is the third leg to the stool that holds our rights sacred. We aren’t suggesting the President doesn’t need money to function of the legislature, they are the other two legs of this stool. Then why should we deny the one leg that most interacts with our right to a free and speedy trial? It is the one part of the government that protects our rights as guaranteed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights from infractions of the other two, and lately we have not heard enough from the courts on many of these issues. Certainly keeping the courts at a distance from the public by shorter hours and more back ups isn’t helping that effort.
Of course it should be funded to do the job we hired these folks to do. This shouldn’t even be a question to anyone who supports Iowa and America.
As Mr. Hanken correctly noted – the right to a speedy trial is to be Constitutionally protected. But of course we have to ensure that the wealthy and corporations get even more tax breaks. Sorry, should have left it alone after first sentence but just could not resist.