NCJ Number
70131
Date Published
1980
Length
167 pages
Annotation
This fourth volume of a six-volume study of the Mississippi court system presents a fiscal analysis of the State's judicial system.
Abstract
The fiscal analyses presented are based on a compendium of data collected from a multitude of sources. To obtain comparability between the data, they were all projected into common time frames (1979, 1980, and 1981). Based on these projections, the State's court system is estimated to cost about $19,202,863 in 1980 and will generate $1,118,472 in fines and forfeitures during that same year. Of the estimated expenditures for courts in 1980, the State will incur $4,016,926 (19.8 percent of total expenditures) and local expenditures will account for $15,189,937 (80.2 percent of total expenditures). Based on the estimated total disbursements from the State general fund for 1980, the State expends less than one-half of 1 percent of its budget on courts. Currently, the Mississippi courts have no mechanism to collect and assimilate fiscal and personnel information to be used for judicial decisionmaking and planning. The Mississippi Judicial Council should establish within its operational structure and responsibility a mechanism for collection and assimilation of courts' fiscal and personnel information. Mississippi should progressively increase the level of State funding of its court system. Supplementary financial information is appended, and tabular data are provided throughout the body of the report. See NCJ 70127-30 and NCJ 70132-34.