Court News
SHELBY COUNTY COMMON PLEAS
COURT
January, 2010
The economic situation
continued to impact county government, including the Court,
in 2009. The economy’s impact ranged from budget constraints
to increased criminal caseload.
Budget reductions will
affect employees in reduced hours by mandatory furloughs.
The intention is to adjust employee’s schedules in
a way that will allow us to continue normal court hours
although with reduced staff on Fridays.
Budget reductions have
required elimination or delay of other services and projects.
We were required to eliminate two programs designed to help
probationers adjust their thought and moral reasoning processes
to reduce the likelihood of continued involvement in criminal
activity.
On a more positive
note, for the last two years, I worked with Clerk of Courts
Michele Mumford on making court records available to the
public via internet access. We receive frequent inquiries
from attorneys, especially out-of-town counsel, the media
and citizens about the availability of our records on the
internet. Over a year ago, Michele Mumford and I started
setting aside monies to fund the implementation of internet
access. These monies are from the Court’s special
project funds and the Clerk’s computer fund. These
monies are not part of the General Fund but are generated
from fees collected from new case filings. Those monies
cannot be used for general operating expenses, but only
for computer resources and other “special projects.”
The economy, of course,
affected private industry as well as government. At least
in part because of the economy, our software supplier has
significantly reduced the costs of implementing internet
access to court records. Because of the reduced costs, we
believe that we are now on track to implement internet access
during the first half of 2010. Michele and I believe that
internet access will significantly improve the ability of
the court to make available court records to the public.
2009 saw significant
increases in court filings, especially in the criminal docket.
For years, the court has averaged about 325 criminal new
cases a year. In 2008, there were 334 new criminal filings.
In 2009, that number jumped to 407 new criminal filings.
The increase in criminal
cases also significantly impacted my probation officers’
workload. In 2008, there were 225 probationers. In 2009,
that number jumped to 352. The increase in caseload necessarily
increased other aspects of the probation office. Home visits
jumped from 149 in 2008 to 636 in 2009. Probation violation
filings increased from 82 in 2008 to 124 in 2009. My probation
officers are struggling to handle this increase with reduced
staff and reduced hours.
The civil docket continues
to be busy. Unfortunately, again a reflection of the economy,
55% of new case filings was real estate foreclosures. There
were 547 new civil filings and 338 domestic cases, including
re-openings. The largest increases over the past year were
in criminal and foreclosure cases. In 2009, we had 303 new
foreclosures filed compared to 250 in 2008.
Overall, the caseload
for domestic relations was down slightly from 2008. However,
there was a large increase in civil protection orders (CPO)
filed. There were 63 CPO filings in 2009 compared to 15
in 2008. During 2009, there were 403 domestic hearings held
and 164 people attended the court-ordered parenting program.
In spite of increasing
caseload, budget constraints and reductions in income, my
staff continues to be hard working, dedicated employees
serving the community to the best of their ability. I am
proud of my staff, their loyalty and their dedication. We
look forward to another successful year serving the citizens
of Shelby County.
James F. Stevenson
Judge
Shelby County Common Pleas Court
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