NH calls freezes jury trials to save money

Wow, things are bad:

Financially strapped New Hampshire has become a poster child for the problem. Among other cost-cutting measures, state courts will halt for a month all civil and criminal jury trials early next year to save $73,000 in jurors' per diems. Officials warn they may add another four-week suspension. [LAT]

Couldn't it easily cost more than $73,000 to keep suspects in jail for an extra month, waiting to go to trial?

Comments

[jeffliveshere]

It could, but it wouldn't surprise me if the majority of people waiting to go to trial weren't actually being held by the state, but instead are out on bail...I'd be curious to know though.

[eden]

And also, the courts which pay for the jurors are not the same org that has to pay for prisons - so money from two different pots with different people responsible.

[Eric Jaffa]

I'm glad that Congress quickly gave the Bush Administration $700 billion to give to Wall Street instead of considering alternatives.

Imagine how bad the economy would be if Congress had taken it's time to review the options.

(sarcasm)

[parse]

Couldn't it easily cost more than $73,000 to keep suspects in jail for an extra month, waiting to go to trial?

That's a really interesting question. My guess is that people who can't afford bail are very unlikely to prevail at trial, given the difficulty of winning a case without a well-funded defense. So the ultimate time spent incarcerated doesn't change, only how much of it is spent before they are judged guity and how much of it after the conviction.