What’s another few weeks?
A common government tactic when they claim “budget” problems is to cut something everybody likes first. This is called the “Washington Monument” defense, in that the administration proposes to shut down the Washington Monument first if the Park Service budget is cut.
New Hampshire has taken this ploy to a new low by actually halting jury trials for one month:
John Broderick, the state’s chief justice, said suspending trials was essential to avoid layoffs in the judicial system, which has already cut $2.7 million from its budget.
That’s okay… they don’t arrest innocent people… right? So a few more weeks cooling it in jail waiting for your trial is well worth not cutting jobs, pay or benefits in the judicial bureaucracy:
The clerks of court in New Hampshire’s largest counties, Hillsborough and Rockingham, said they were rescheduling 179 criminal and civil trials planned for February or March.
Clearly New Hampshire has poor priorities. There must be something they can cut before timely justice.
H/T: Dad
December 9th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Use homeless people around the courthouses for jury duty and let each one selected have three light meals per day in the cafeteria charging them the daily $10 stipend.
December 9th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
I don’t think the lack of juries will have much effect on the people in jail pending a trial. Since most cases are resolved by plea bargain, few of them will ever go to trial, and far fewer of them will be acquitted by a jury. Most accused are released on bond until the trial as long as they are not violent nor likely to flee the jurisdiction.