Justice and public safety, particularly the Department of Correction, face deep cuts in the budget proposal.

In Correction, which runs the state's prisons and probation system, the budget would eliminate 100 vacant positions and 87 jobs to save a total of $8.1 million. The budget would also close seven smaller prisons to save $8.4 million this year and $22.3 million next year.

The budget proposal would also:

* Eliminate 47 vacant positions in the judicial system including jobs at county courthouses to save $2 million.

* Wipe out the $7,000 travel allowance given to each Superior Court judge to save $672,000. Travel would be reimbursed as judges request it.

* Increase the SBI Crime Lab fee assessed on convicted criminals from $300 to $600. Impaired driving cases make up the bulk of the money generated by the fee. The increase would raise an additional $195,000 this year.

* Eliminate funding for the Center for the Prevention of School Violence, which would eliminate six jobs and save $481,000. The center is a think tank for schools and the budget proposal states that the center does not fit the core mission of the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

* Eliminate the Support Our Schools program, including three filled jobs to save $6.6 million. The program provides funding to after school programs across the state.

* Eliminate 127 work crews that provided free labor to state and local governments to save $4.8 million.

The list of prisons that would close after the jump.

   Comments (0)

Attorney General Roy Cooper said he would help victims of crime get the restitution they are owed.

Cooper was responding to a story Sunday in The News & Observer that reported that for a decade the state court system has improperly divertion millions meant to compensate crime victims to state and local treasuries.

The diversion was the result of a misinterpretation of the law that was compounded by an incorrect computer setting.

"I’m shocked that crime victims have been forced to wait behind the government before getting the funds they deserve," said Cooper, who as a state senator in 1997, was the primary sponsor of the victim restitution bill.

Cooper today set up a task force in his office of Victims and Citizens Services to help crime victims receive their just compensation. The task force will work with the Administrative Office of the Courts and Clerks of Court to help get victims the money they are entitled to receive.

Crime victims who need help getting court-ordered restitution can contact Cooper’s Victims and Citizens Services at vcs@ncdoj.gov or (919) 716-6780.

In a letter sent today to Judge John Smith, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, Cooper called on the state to make sure that both future and past crime victims get the restitution they are owed.

"Just as important as setting future priorities is making it right for past crime victims," Cooper said.

Update: Post now includes Cooper's role on the bill that granted victims restitution.

The lack of a budget has forced state court officials to order judges to stay home.

North Carolina's elected Superior Court judges rotate on a circuit every six months. The idea is to avoid favoritism that might result from having a permanent judge in one district

Administrative Office of the Courts Director John W. Smith has suspended the rotation and ordered judges to stay in their home judicial districts. Smith told judicial department employees in a memo that the agency has been granted enough money to make payroll for July. It has no guarantees beyond that.

Our circumstances continue to deteriorate and the uncertainty about our future becomes more problematical for us each day that passes without a budget from the General Assembly.

Smith said the court system will also begin to ration supplies. He urged employees to use e-mail instead of paper when possible.

"Shipments and deliveries may be delayed depending upon the availability of funds or the ingenuity of our employees to arrange for the deliveries," he wrote.

Other measures to cope with the budget crisis include:

* Court-ordered fees for witnesses and experts will be paid, but may be delayed, Smith said.

* Lawyers appointed to represent children in court proceedings may see payments interrupted.

* Smith urged employees to avoid unnecessary travel.

In the section of the House budget proposal covering justice and public safety spending just one item represents increased spending: a plan to split the 11th prosecutorial district, which covers Harnett, Johnston and Lee counties.

The proposal would spend $164,459 in the 2010-2011 fiscal year to add a new district attorney and two staff positions to serve Harnett and Lee counties, Dan Kane reports. Johnston would become its own prosecutorial district, which is where the current district attorney resides.

Given the tough fiscal times, you'd think the proposal would need solid support and justification. But it doesn't have it.

The state Administrative Office of the Courts hasn't requested it, nor has a state judicial council that looks into staffing needs. The Johnston County Bar Association adamantly opposes it. Minutes reflect that the association shot the proposal down by a 24 to 2 vote, calling it "fiscally irresponsible."

"Isn't that ridiculous, in this time when people are losing jobs and everything's being cut back, to spend money in that way?" said Robert Denning, a Johnston County defense attorney and bar member.

More after the jump.

   Comments (1)

Lawmakers tried to sort out their own conflicting signals on money for fighting crime Wednesday, the same day that the state Senate unanimously approved anti-gang legislation.

As the Senate swept two gang bills to passage, lawmakers were trying to resolve complaints by the state's court system that their funding was being slashed in separate talks over the state budget.

"We can't do that," said Sen. Malcolm Graham, a Charlotte Democrat who ushered the gang bills through the Senate. "We can't say we're going to spend $10 million for gangs on the right hand and cut $9 million on the left hand."

Legislators on the budget committee initially asked for $9 million in possible cuts out of a $430 million budget. On Wednesday, key lawmakers agreed on $4.3 million in cuts that court officials called reasonable.

"We're getting pieces of the puzzle and the (courts funding) target is one of those puzzle pieces, but in the end there may be money from somewhere else that may be used to fill in those gaps," said Sen. Linda Garrou, a Democrat from Winston-Salem and co-chair of the full appropriations committee.

North Carolina lost a longtime figure in state courts today.

Dallas A. Cameron Jr., former Director of the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts, died after a bout with cancer, Titan Barksdale reports. He was 68.

Cameron, a Columbus County native, had a career that led him into a few areas of criminal justice. He started out as a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He then moved to state's judicial standards commission where he was an attorney and executive secretary.

In 1979, he was named assistant director of the administrative office. He spent 17 years in the position before being named as director, a position he held for two years.

Cameron was praised for his dedication to criminal justice. When he was named as the court system's director in 1996, N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Burley Mitchell, Jr. sang his praises, and said "he was pleased" to have him as the court's top administrator.