Fiscal Year 2004 began on October 1, 2003 with the government operating under a continuing resolution. While CRs have become routine in recent years, the financial picture the Judiciary may face in FY 04 is anything but. Plainly put, if the House and the Senate give the Judiciary less than a 7.3 percent increase, the Judiciary will not be able to support both current services and staffing levels.

Clerks of court and chief probation and pretrial services officers around the country were asked how they would be affected by FY 2004 funding significantly below the amounts needed to fund current requirements. Many responded that the cumulative effect of several years of spending constraints had already taken a toll. Courts, they reported, have reached their limits, and with the prospect of even deeper cuts, as one clerk of court said, "the cracks are beginning to show."

The execution of court orders will be delayed, resulting in the postponed release of prisoners, processing appeals, and collection activity on judgments. A lack of funding for court interpreter positions will certainly impact our ability to schedule criminal hearings and trials. A lack of funding for contract court reporting services would further compound scheduling problems and promote delays.

Richard H. Weare, Clerk of Court,
District of Arizona

The cut proposed would result in the elimination of positions. Case-loads and investigation assignments would become unmanageable. We would provide supervision services in name only. Our other alternative would be to terminate all mental health, substance abuse, and home confinement services, in defiance of the court orders to provide such services.

Elaine Terenzi, Chief U.S. Probation Officer,
Middle District of Florida

We have cut all general operating expenses to bare-bone minimums to keep our current staff on board. Any further funding cuts equate to the elimination of probation officer positions. This is a particularly untimely occasion for budget cuts because the U.S. attorney in our district has recently initiated the public campaign known as "Project Safe Neighborhood." This program targets the most egregious felons who are caught in the possession of a firearm.

Richard L. Tracy,
Chief U.S. Probation Officer,
Northern District of Illinois

If FY 2004 allotments are frozen at the FY 2003 level, the probation office for the Western District of Missouri will be in a state of crisis. For the past several years, Missouri has led the nation in the number of clandestine Methamphetamine labs seized by law enforcement agencies. Now the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri has announced a new initiative on prosecuting sex offenses, which previously had been handled in state or local courts. The number of offenders in this district is expected to increase by 7 percent, at a time when the average nationally is around 2.3 percent. The rapidly increasing workload we are experiencing, coupled with no increase in funding, will result in a drastic reduction of services, which are critical for the effective supervision of offenders in the community.

Stephen M. Donnelly, Chief U.S. Probation Officer,
Western District of Missouri

The operation of the bankruptcy court would have to be radically modified. The clerk's office would have to either furlough every staff member for two days a month, or reduce our current staff numbers by 11 people. Closing of bankruptcy cases would come to a standstill since we're already significantly behind due to the shortage of 2003 funding, the backlog of discharges could grow to approximately six months, availability of clerk's office personnel to provide service would be reduced, and waiting time to file documents in person is projected to increase from a few minutes to several hours.

Patricia Gray, Unit Executive, U.S. Bankruptcy Court,
District of Nevada

To significantly reduce funding that has been barely adequate would cause essential court operations to function at an unacceptable level. If we use furloughs to reduce personnel spending, all clerk's office employees would be furloughed for approximately 30 work days each. This would certainly impact service to the public and we would need to reduce intake hours. The turnaround time for docketing, and the processing time for criminal cases would increase.

Bob March, Clerk of Court,
District of New Mexico

Over the past 12 months the bankruptcy court experienced an overall increase in filings of 11 percent. Among the cases are some of the largest bankruptcies ever filed, such as Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Enron Corporation, WorldCom, Inc., Formica Corporation, Alliance Health Systems, and Atlantic Express Transportation Corp. [If funding were reduced] the processing of cases would be affected negatively in that performance of the most critical functions would suffer, such as quality control, timely issuance of discharges, and closing no asset chapter 7 cases. It may be necessary to reduce the hours the clerk's office is available to assist the public and severely reduce the training support offered to attorneys on CM/ECF.

Kathleen Farrell-Willoughby,
Bankruptcy Clerk of Court,
Southern District of New York

Which services would have to be sacrificed to maintain continued processing and supervision?

There is nothing to cut. We currently fund at the bare minimum.

Jeffrey P. Johnson, Chief U.S. Pretrial Services Officer,
Northern District of Ohio

In response to increasing post-conviction supervision caseloads and the inability to hire new officers, the District of South Carolina has reluctantly discontinued operating its Offender Re-entry Program, which assists Bureau of Prisons inmates with transition back into the community, including parenting classes, financial counseling, drug and alcohol counseling, employment assistance, advance collection of financial penalties, review of expectations while under release, etc. The potential for falling through the cracks has increased.

Patrick O. Culbertson, Chief U.S. Probation Officer,
District of South Carolina

When you begin to reduce services, you increase the possibility of offender recidivism, which in turn increases the possibility of community danger. What we are essentially saying is if you live in a remote area, as do most of our offenders, you are not eligible for services as an offender or protection as a citizen. That is the direct opposite of our mission.

Denny Merritt, Chief U.S. Probation Officer,
District of South Dakota

To maintain our current standards with less resources, we undoubtedly will have to give less attention to those matters with lower priority. These would include restitution and fine payments. Also the processing of CJA payments to attorneys could suffer. The time to respond to inquiries and handle requests from attorneys and the public will lengthen. If we are unable to maintain and update our computers and other equipment, then there will be more downtime of equipment, which will cause delays in handling the workload. If we are required to reduce work hours or staff, the work of the court will continue to suffer because we will be unable to meet the needs and demands of the public and the attorneys.

Patricia L. McNutt, Clerk of Court,
Eastern District of Tennessee

As professionals, we will strive to cut discretionary spending to the bone in order to maintain quality supervision, but we are fast approaching a time when we have exhausted all our resources. It costs much less to maintain an offender under supervision than to build more prisons in which to incarcerate them.

Butch Hannah, Chief U.S. Probation Officer,
Eastern District of Tennessee

For all offenders/defendants in treatment, treatment frequency will be reduced by at least 50 percent. Field contacts will be reduced as necessary so we can remain within our budget. We are running a grave risk of significantly interfering with offenders/defendants making progress in treatment, and we are also significantly reducing our monitoring efforts in many cases regarding continued drug use and subsequent referrals for treatment. Our mental health and sex offender cases are some of the most dangerous individuals we supervise, and these individuals need treatment and monitoring if they have any hope of successfully reintegrating into the community. By limiting our treatment, as well as the number of polygraph examinations administered to sex offenders, we are without question, subjecting the public to a much greater risk.

Kenneth Laborde, Chief U.S. Probation Officer,
Eastern District of Texas

Our district has expended considerable resources in the development of an interagency program to assist our judicial officers in the appropriate handling of material witnesses. These witnesses are primarily used by the government in criminal cases involving the smuggling of aliens into the U.S. The resources necessary to continue this very worthwhile endeavor would be severely compromised, if not eliminated, under the proposed budget scenario.

Craig Valashek, Chief U.S. Pretrial Services Officer,
Western District of Texas

We are a rural state with an offender population spread throughout the state. We are a border state where there has been an increase in drug and alien smuggling cases as a result of increased surveillance at the border. Finally, we are a state experiencing an influx of heroin and crack cocaine at a time that the state is experiencing declining revenues and increasing expenses. Of course there would be delays in casework, you can't do more with less, you can't do the same with less.

Phil Albertson, Chief U.S. Probation Officer,
District of Vermont

We have a dedicated staff who are committed to getting the work done at any cost, but they've reached their limit of being able to "do more with less," and the cracks are beginning to show.

Bruce Rifkin, District Court Executive,
Western District of Washington