Prosecutors Need More Resources to Handle Caseloads
by Attorney General Greg Stumbo

January 11, 2005

As Attorney General, I have the honor of working with our state prosecutors, talented men and women who are dedicated to their profession and who work tirelessly to keep our communities safe. However, they are facing a crisis of resources that is threatening their ability to safeguard the public. Because of the issues facing prosecutors, this fall, I formed a bipartisan Blue Ribbon Commission to study these problems. To fully assess prosecutorial needs, we sent out surveys to all of our elected County and Commonwealth’s Attorneys. We are still compiling their responses, but one thing has become clear: a major problem facing our County and Commonwealth’s Attorneys is that they lack the resources to handle the explosion of criminal cases that has occurred in the last few years.

As a whole, prosecutors are handling over 10,000 more criminal cases in circuit court than they did in 1996. Much of this increase is due to an exponential increase in drug crimes, particularly methamphetamine cases. Methamphetamine labs in Kentucky have been found everywhere from the trunks of cars to underground caves. Indictments for methamphetamine manufacturing and trafficking have increased by a staggering 452% from 1998. In some criminal circuits, methamphetamine cases represent 15-30% of the entire criminal caseload. This caseload increase has added to the burden of our overtaxed County and Commonwealth’s attorneys. Most of our prosecutors are handling cases in numbers that are well above recommended levels.

Even this vast increase in caseloads does not accurately reflect the entirety of a prosecutor’s job duties. For example, every case that goes before a grand jury, whether there is an indictment or not, requires a prosecutor to present that case. This is a time consuming and painstaking process. However, this effort may not be reflected in statistics that count only cases involving returned indictments. In addition to grand jury duties, both County and Commonwealth’s Attorneys have additional responsibilities in the protection of our children. With respect to child sexual abuse prosecutions, they work with other professionals on child sex abuse multidisciplinary teams. These teams work together to structure prosecutions so that every effort is made to minimize the trauma experienced by child victims.

In addition to the changes in caseload numbers, prosecutors have adapted to the changing circumstances in our Commonwealth to effectively promote criminal justice. For example, as our population continues to age, prosecutors are devoting more and more time to protecting our elderly citizens. Many of our seniors have been victimized either by physical abuse or by financial scams that strip them of their savings. Some Commonwealth’s Attorneys, such as Dave Stengel in Jefferson County, have developed elder abuse units to combat this criminal behavior. Prosecutors must also address demographic changes in the communities that they serve. For example, Kentucky’s Hispanic population is now estimated at about 70,000. To adapt to this demographic change, Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Larson has instituted a weekly radio show on a local Spanish language station which brings much needed criminal justice information to the Spanish speaking population of Central Kentucky.

Prosecution is also becoming a more dangerous profession. State prosecutors are threatened hundreds of times a year across the United States. In 2001, 81% of prosecutors serving communities of 250,000 or more reported a threat on a staff member or a work-related assault. In Kentucky, we are all too aware of how dangerous the prosecutions profession can be. Kentucky prosecutors have been the subject of “contracts” on their lives that law enforcement personnel were fortunately able to thwart prior to the contract being carried out. However, the most horrific incident involving a prosecutor is still fresh in everyone’s memory. Sadly, Commonwealth’s Attorney Fred Capps was gunned down in his home in June of 2000 by a man that he was to prosecute for child sexual abuse later that day. This fall, the National District Attorneys Association dedicated a memorial to prosecutors killed in the line of duty. Among the names on this memorial is that of Fred Capps.

Although the profession is becoming more and more dangerous, there are many public servants who are willing to face the risks of violence, but they are driven from the profession because of the low starting salaries and lack of pay advancement for career prosecutors. Low starting salaries make it more and more difficult to attract new prosecutors to public service when they can make significantly more money in the private sector. Additionally, even if we are able to attract young prosecutors, it is difficult to cultivate them into career prosecutors because resources do not permit a pay scale that rewards experience. A recent article in the ABA Journal highlighted this problem in a study of Florida prosecutors. It found that Florida prosecutors have a turnover rate of 20%, and just 54% of new prosecutors last for three years. Our surveys have indicated that the same problems exist in Kentucky. Many of the surveys have reported not only a problem recruiting talent due to low starting salaries, but a problem retaining prosecutors who would like to stay in the profession but cannot due so because of financial obligations such as mortgages and student loan payments.

As the General Assembly examines ways to solve our current fiscal crisis, including options such as expanded gaming or increasing the cigarette tax, the General Assembly should take a hard look at increasing the funding levels of our state prosecutors. Government’s most important function is the protection of the public safety. Without safe communities, we cannot progress in other important areas. Our County and Commonwealth’s Attorneys work tirelessly to maintain the safety of our communities and our Commonwealth. Their work is too difficult and too important to suffer from a lack of financial support.