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| Local courts work for justice despite financial constraints |
| By news-journalonline.com - WILLIAM A. PARSONS |
| Published: 01/04/2012 |
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The Florida Supreme Court has a legal obligation to issue a certification of need for additional judges each year before the legislative session begins. In December, the justices recommended the addition of 48 county court judges and 23 circuit judges statewide -- including one Flagler County court judge, one St. Johns County court judge, two Volusia County court judges and two circuit judges in the 7th Judicial Circuit. While the state court system receives less than 1 percent of the state budget, we understand that our need for judges competes with other priorities in the state. Like other parts of government, the judicial branch has also been impacted by the turbulent economic times. Locally, we've worked hard to reduce the direct impact to litigants -- but cutbacks in the number of non-judicial staff (case managers, law clerks, and others) and the lack of new judges (no new judges since 2006) are starting to take a toll. We continue to efficiently allocate our resources by using general magistrates, child support hearing officers and civil traffic infraction hearing officers to preside over certain matters. We encourage the early resolution of cases when appropriate and possible. We also use programs like Teen Court and Drug Court to address certain populations of juvenile and adult defendants. Read More. |
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