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County indigent defense costs far outpacing inflation

While I was away, most Texas counties approved their annual budgets and one of the big criminal justice growth areas in recent years for many of them has been rising indigent defense costs - a function of increased state regulation and the fact that the number of new cases has continued to rise (inexplicably) despite crime declining across the state.In 2009, Texas counties spent a total of $186,307,540 on indigent defense, more than a 109% increase from 2001 when counties spent $91,426,518, according to public data on the website of the Task Force on Indigent Defense. According to the Inflation Calculator, overall inflation increased just 21% over the same period, meaning the costs in many jurisdictions are soaring compared to other expenses...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on September 21, 2010 (boomark / email).