NY court system suffers from budget cuts

The New York court system is suffering the effects of the $170 million in budget cuts made in the 2011-12 period, with widespread court delays, shortages of experienced personnel, reduced jury pools, and other problems. Speaking at the New York State Bar Association’s annual meeting yesterday, American Bar Association President William Robinson III outlined the scale of the problem, noting that it was not unique since forty-two state court systems had significant budget cuts last year. The proposed budget for New York in the coming fiscal year is $2.4 billion, which would essentially be flat. Elaine R. Jones, director-counsel emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund pointed out that some states’ court funding issues are even worse that New York’s, such as California, where some courts have closed for several days each month, amid layoffs of court personnel.

NY court system suffers from budget cuts blogs.wsj.com Thu, Feb 2, 2012