Following are excerpts from Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Carol Hunstein’s Feb. 16 address to the Georgia General Assembly.
“The fallout from the recent recession has created challenges of historic proportions.”
“All of us have had to make cuts and trim staff. That includes the judicial branch. It has been particularly painful for those of us who have had to lay off employees whose families depend on their jobs. Even as we confront necessary but difficult choices, however, it is imperative that the government maintain staff and resources to fulfill its vital, indispensable responsibilities.”
“Keeping our citizens safe is one of government’s fundamental obligations. Indeed our Georgia Constitution requires the government to protect the public safety. The courts play a crucial role in doing so.
“The fact is, there are a lot of people in prison who are a greater threat to themselves than to society. Rather than lock up drug addicts and the mentally ill, we must reserve our prison beds for our most serious criminals ....
“Many states, including Texas and South Carolina, have discovered they can keep the public safer and spend less money by supervising some nonviolent offenders outside of prison and treating the root causes of crime.
“Georgia’s leaders in all three branches of government recognize that we can no longer afford the more than $1 billion it costs us annually to maintain the fourth-highest incarceration rate in the nation.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, Georgia has proven we can be tough on crime, with mandatory minimum sentences that allow no chance for parole. But are we any safer? And at what cost?
“Unfortunately, there will always be those who commit crimes. But we cannot continue to build more prisons.”
“We are looking at alternatives to incarceration for certain offenders with two goals in mind — to improve the public safety, and to save taxpayer dollars.
“Last year, I told you that Georgia’s judicial branch stood at a crossroads — that due to budget cuts, we were in increasing peril of being unable to fulfill our constitutional mandates. This year, I report to you that the state of the judiciary remains strong — but it continues to struggle.”
“Once again this year, I emphasize that the entire judicial branch receives less than 1 percent of the entire state budget. At the same time, last year we generated more than $544 million in fees, with nearly $90 million of that returned to the state general fund.
“Those of us in the judicial branch have already proven we are capable of making tough decisions. For some years now, we have already been doing more with less.”
“Our state and U.S. constitutions guarantee criminal defendants the right to a speedy trial. That means that if there are not enough judges to clear the backlog, people charged with some of the most heinous crimes will walk free — not by judicial discretion but as a matter of law. We cannot, in Georgia, allow that to happen.”
