Fraternal Order of Police Endorsement Letter
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Saving taxpayer money:
Josh Parsons is for making government more efficient. He has shown by example it can be done.
“Now it's a matter of criminal defendants paying Lancaster County what they owe.Those payments have already amounted to more than $2 million in new revenue for the county, according to Clerk of Courts Joshua Parsons, who started the collections project last year.By this year's end, Parsons estimates the total will reach $2.5 million.‘By holding convicted criminals accountable for what they owe, we have saved taxpayers money,’ Parsons said on Wednesday. ‘Rather than raising taxes, government should concentrate on becoming more
efficient and effective.’’
“District Attorney Craig Stedman said it's about time defendants are taking responsibility for what they owe. Many defendants on Parsons' list owe restitution, which goes to victims of crimes.Victims are all too often victimized a second time when restitution payments are not made or enforced," Stedman said on Wednesday. "What (Parsons) has done is making a difference."
“[Commissioner] Martin applauded the effort, saying criminal-justice costs are ‘the most expensive things we pay for in all of government. We can't keep going at the pace we are.’"
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"Clerk of Courts steps up efforts to collect unpaid fines, costs... Since Josh Parsons became clerk of courts, collection of unpaid costs and fines from criminals has nearly tripled. His office pushed legal action to recover unpaid monies to a record 2,046 this spring."
"The office is nearly two years into a stepped-up effort to collect some $26 million in outstanding fines, costs and restitution levied against convicted criminals. It's paying off... 'People want a dollar's worth of services from their government for a dollar's worth of taxes. If you can be efficient and get money that's owed out there anyway then I think we should do it, rather than raising taxes. And that's what we're doing.'"
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"Joshua Parsons merely wants Lancaster County to get what it's owed. And he plans to make that happen by filing civil lawsuits against 13,800 people with old court debts. Parsons, in his first term as the county's clerk of courts, already has directed his staff to file suits against 5,000-plus criminal defendants who have neglected to pay court fines, costs, or restitution fees. In all, there are 13,795 targeted people on Parson's list, which he and his staff began compiling a few months ago. Altogether, those folks owe an estimated $26 million."
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Results:
By partnering with other fiscal conservatives, Josh Parsons' efforts to reform the criminal justice system in Lancaster County resulted in major changes within a short time of his taking office. These reforms, which are some of the biggest changes to the Lancaster County criminal justice system in decades, are projected to save taxpayers millions of dollars and have won Josh praise from throughout Lancaster County.
"'The present system lacks efficiency,' he observed. 'The numbers [compared with other counties] show we have a serious problem.' Parsons presented a five-point 'Modernization and Efficiency Plan' for the county's criminal courts to the judges last month. The plan calls for an individual calendar, not only because it would encourage judges to push cases to conclusion more quickly, but also because it would save money. Multiple pretrial conferences that result in more case continuances than anything else waste the time of court personnel and provide additional paperwork, according to Parsons. In addition, his blueprint for change notes, 'prisoners are sometimes in the Lancaster County Prison for a long time before they get their day in court. This has a huge financial cost as well as a cost in terms of justice.'
Parsons estimates that the county could save $3.5 million a year. That figure is based on reducing by 50 percent a monthly average of 400 inmates awaiting trial or probation/parole violation hearings at a cost to the county of nearly $53 a day. Parsons also recommends reform of pretrial conferences, which he believes are ineffective because they include little substantive discussion of cases. He wants to expedite cases by allowing defendants to plead guilty at any time, including on days when the court would accept mass guilty pleas, as is done with accelerated rehabilitative disposition, or ARD, cases now. He believes criminal court periodically should be held at the Lancaster County Prison, eliminating the cost and inefficiency of transporting inmates and guards to the courthouse.
Finally, Parsons calls for all trials to be scheduled on specific dates — rather than at unspecified times during a two-week trial period — so that all those involved will know in advance which days to set aside. 'Reasonable people can disagree with these possible solutions,' Parsons said, 'but reasonable people can't disagree that there's a problem.' Christopher Erb, president of the county's lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police and a detective with the Lancaster City Bureau of Police, said the lodge membership supports Parsons' plan. 'The current practice is severely broken and in desperate need of repair or reform,' Erb said."
Read full article at Lancaster Online »
"Parsons, a former assistant district attorney under Stedman, has developed a five-point 'modernization and efficiency plan' for the courts. Much of his plan is also based on implementing an individual calendar system. 'The current system may have worked when the county had a smaller population and fewer trials,' he explained after presenting his plan to Madenspacher last month, 'but it is now outdated.'"
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"Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas judges have adopted 'a new continuous court, individual calendar system' to improve the efficiency of criminal court procedures. The new plan will begin in July. The judges say they, and a more clearly defined schedule, will drive the system. Defense attorneys and prosecutors will have to meet the judges' schedule and strictly follow all Pennsylvania rules for criminal procedure. 'What is changing is the entire criminal trial system, also the entire civil trial system,' explained President Judge Joseph C. Madenspacher in unveiling the plan during an interview in his office. 'I think what the critics wanted was continuous court with an individual calendar," he added. "I think we've achieved that.'"
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"The certified figures for 2010 and 2011 bolstered the contention by local prosecutors and others that Lancaster crime victims, witnesses, defendants and law enforcement officers had become snarled in one of the least efficient criminal court systems in the state. 'The system is dysfunctional,' Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman stated flatly last March.
Joshua Parsons, the county's clerk of courts, joined Stedman in calling for judges to follow an individual calendar to improve the flow of cases through criminal court."
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"Parsons believes the new plan is 'the beginning of a solution'...
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