The Alabama Judicial System Continues to Face Severe Funding Threats
Yesterday, Times Daily writer Dennis Sherer addressed the looming budget cuts again facing Alabama's judicial system. His column, Courts Face '10 Budget Cuts, paints a true and troubling picture of the financial problem at hand.
As Dennis noted, just a few years ago, the Office of Courts had to suspend jury trials temporarily due to a lack of state funding. As a result of continued funding problems, the judicial system has already scaled back to the bare minimum necessary simply to keep open its doors. Another issue created by this long-term lack of proper funding is that growing counties, like Madison County, no longer have enough Judges even to serve the local population. In an earlier entry, I noted the special problems facing Madison County with too few Judges. According to a recent New York Times editorial, other states now face similar funding problems.
Any additional funding cuts would severely threaten an already overburdened system. I have often heard the phrase "justice delayed is justice denied." In reality, the citizens of our community who most need the legal protections of our judicial system are also the ones who pay the heaviest price when that justice is not delivered.
I think that your article subject,"The Alabama Judicial System Continues to Face Severe Funding Threats" has been encountered all through the country.