Posted by Barton Lorimor

Repealing the death penalty had more than one human cost…

State Appellate Defender Michael Pelletier said layoff notices have already been issued to employees whose jobs focused on providing assistance in death penalty cases.[…]

In all, 37 positions will be eliminated from the Appellate Defender’s office, although the number of layoffs comes to only 28, because not all of the positions were filled.

Eleven of the positions are in the Springfield office, where six people will lose their jobs.

The cutbacks will save a total of $4.7 million, Pelletier said, counting salaries and other associated costs.

Those layoffs may have been predictable after capital punishment was erased from the books, but other areas of the criminal justice system are hurting for entirely different reasons…

As the state begins cutting back, counties are picking up the financial slack, forcing departments to deal with smaller budgets and a growing backlog of cases.

In 2010, the Illinois judicial system was short about $28 million it was owed for its annual budget.

Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride said the department only recently received a small installment of the total $64 million it was owed from state coffers.

“It’s extremely difficult to run these probation departments. Today, with that additional $20 million, we’re at $55 (million), and what’s projected (for the next fiscal year) is the estimated cost for salaries and probation is … $95 million,” Kilbride told a Senate committee earlier this week.

The probation departments account for about 24 percent of the entire judicial budget. Illinois has 70 probation departments supervising more than 100,000 offenders.

*** 7:52 p.m. ***
I forgot to include today’s Sun-Times editorial, which came out against the idea of having a registry of released murderers…

The logic of sex offender registries is that at least some small percentage of sex offenders cannot be rehabilitated; released from prison, they will repeat the same crimes. Society must know who they are to protect itself.

But aside from monsters like John Wayne Gacy, there is no compelling evidence that people who have committed murder are likely to commit murder again, especially after serving a 20- to 30-year prison term.

And in similar news…

* Former state trooper Matt Mitchell asks for review of denied workers’ comp claim: Matt Mitchell’s lawyer, Kerri O’Sullivan, filed for a review March 16 — asking a panel of commissioners to review Illinois Workers’ Compensation arbitrator Jennifer Teague’s denial.
In the petition for review, O’Sullivan checked that Mitchell’s injuries occurred in the course of his employment and arose out of his employment. Teague issued an opinion Feb. 17 that found Mitchell did not sustain accidental injuries arising out of and in the course of his employment with the state, then dismissed his claim.

* Workforce programs working against federal budget cuts

* Belleville man appeals Walmart TIF case to Illinois Supreme Court

* Questions on juror background checks bring Chicago’s top attorney to court

* St. Clair County must pay gun club $42,221

* State Supreme Court sides with cops in dog sniffing drug case

…Adding…

* Chicago police send some cops back to uniforms

* Hillard: Cops from specialized units reassigned to patrol

* State police to review case involving Daley nephew

* State Police to review investigation of death involving Daley nephew