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May 7, 2004
To: Durham All Citizens From: The Durham Roundtable: Sylvia Kerckhoff, MaryAnn Black, Nick Tennyson, Dan Hill, Sterling Freeman, Anita Brown-Graham, Carl Webb, Carl Kenney, Haywood Holderness, Margaret Keller, Laura Hall, Hank Scherich, Barker French The Durham Roundtable has been studying the Durham County Court system for the past 15 months. We have met numerous times with the court officers, the AOC in Raleigh, law enforcement in Durham and many of our elected officials, both local and in the Delegation. Our goal, in this effort, is to make Durham a safer community. Resources to fund the hiring of court personnel and purchase equipment come from the Legislature. The Legislature allocates 2.7% of the entire state budget to operate the courts. That percentage ranks North Carolina in the lower 25% of all states in the United States. The percentage allocated has been going down. So, our courts have two major problems, both the result of insufficient money: They are under staffed and they lack technology. Court caseloads continue to rise. Without increased staffing and/or technological upgrades, the average number of days a case is pending continues to increase. An example; a Superior Court civil case took on average 264 days to resolve 5 years ago. In 2002-2003 that average ballooned to 580 days. At a recent meeting of court officials, the County Commission, and our Legislative Delegation, court officials asked for additional resources. All present supported the request and now we need your help to make the case to our state leadership. Please, it is imperative that everyone writes a letter to the four leaders whose addresses appear on the previous point sheet. We want the Legislature to authorize the 2 new ADA and 2 new clerk positions immediately. You can send the same letter to each. So we can measure the impact please send a copy of each of the letters to durhamroundtable@mindspring.com or, if you hand write the letters send copies to The Durham Roundtable, 1005 Monmouth Ave. Durham, NC. We will use the letters in our personal lobbying efforts. Thank you * * * * * Points to be made in letters to the officials listed below.
May x, 2004
Dear xxxxxxxxx,
The Durham County court system is slowly grinding to a halt as caseloads increase and resources for people and technology are virtually frozen. Since 1988-1989 the number of felony cases filed in Superior Court have increased 28%. The average time to dispose of a Superior Court felony case has grown to 227 days calling into question the right to a "speedy" trial. Right now Durham needs 6 additional clerks, 4 assistant district attorneys, 2 district court judges, 1 magistrate, 1 court reporter, and funding for our family and youth treatment courts. At a bare minimum, to cease falling further behind, Durham needs 2 clerks and 2 assistant district attorneys. Youth and family treatment courts are being funded with grants, not long-term operating funds. As of June 2004 the grants run out. We as citizens know that resources are scarce. However, if you are looking for a new source of funds, revenue from a cigarette tax could substantially help North Carolina courts carry out their mission of administering justice. North Carolina allocates just 2.7% of its state budget for the courts. As an equal branch of government this is unacceptably low. We, as citizens, are entitled to fair and timely justice and a safe community in which to live. The current allocation of judicial resources to Durham makes none of these rights possible.
Representative James B. Black (Dem)
Representative Richard T. Morgan (Rep)
Senator Marc Basnight (Dem)
Governor Michael F. Easley
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