State Supreme Court Chief Justice Rita Garman is telling Senate lawmakers about adverse consequences from a proposed 35% budget cut. Garman told an appropriations committee in Springfield that more than 100 drug courts, mental health courts, and other programs to divert offenders from prison would be unlikely to survive.
"They want to provide the maximum services to the highest risk offenders, naturally. So people that are deferred to these problem solving courts are probably not going to have as many services available. It has a dire impact."
Garman says in two decades as a trial court judge she found only about 5% of criminals were truly violent people that needed to be put away.
"The vast majority of those people could turn their lives around. And many of them did with the proper supervision."
Some Senators suggested that Illinois Judges are paid too much compared to their peers in other states. Garman says the legislature sets that pay as well as the number of judges. She pointed out that salaries cannot be changed during a Judge's term.
McLean County has had significant success reducing the jail population through the use of drug and mental health court diversion programs. Those supporting such courts say it is far less expensive to treat offenders than to jail them and such programs reduce repeat offenses.