Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-01-10
- - =
CRIMINAL EXPENSES.

TO public expenditures OH account of
criminal prosecutions.
The report of the Auditor of Pub.
lie Accounts shows that the total row
enue that came into the State Treas
ury during the last fiscal year was
$2,759, 99l.3 3, and that for the same
year the criminal expenses returned
to tho counties an1 cities amounted
to s27S, 799.J9.
Attention is directed To- this onoi-
nous expenditure. for il ii not only
largo but constantly growing. Aud
espcci.>illy in view OF the fact that
this burden was unequal in different
sections OF the Stu;o docs the subject
deserve attention. Tho Auditors
report shows that for 1889 tho total
tax imposed on property and pei suns
and licenses in the Eighth Congress
sional district was S25l, 1881. and
for the lust fiscal year the amount of
criminal expenditure was Sl5, i037S
In the Ninth district the total Ink
for 1889 was l52.75l IS, and in that
district during the year tho criminal
expenditure was SlS,S53 rs.
In the Eighth District the percent
ago of the expenditure to tho total
tax is loss than per cent, and in
the Ninth tho percentage is over 33
per cont,
The question arises in this {. unct
ton: Why the disparity in assess
lnent in tho Eighth mud Ninth dis
triots The Eighth district is almost
entirely agricultural III it's character.
Crops have been small for years and
prices low, and The people poor In
the Ninth great progress is being
mndc and capital is being constantly
invested i'll very large amounts Tho
people are certainly more prosperous
III the lhttor than in the former dis |
trict. Tho excessive criminal expcn,li |
ture in tho Ninth is not to he account ,
eel for OIL the hypothesis that the !
Ninth district is moro luwlcss than !
elsewhere, and it is not to DO account. !
td for OH The plea that our criminal
charges are altogether or mainly duo
to the presence of the colored people.
In tho Ninth district tho colorod
population under the census Of 1880
WAS l7,5i5 and i'll the Eighth 57,25l.
In the Fourth district, the black belt,
ia taxed for 1889 tho sum OF $lS6,.
BOB II. and the criminal expenditure
2',O99.Sl, the percentage being loss
lllan IA per cent. though the colored
population i'll 1850 wns l06,9GS.
The criminal expenditure is no
doubt much larger throughout the
State than if the entire population
were white, but tho main reason for
its extravaganza is that all sorts of
simple nisdomcanors that ought to
bo tried by Justices are tried in tho
courts on indictment by the grand
jury, tho cost of juries and witness
es, and fees to Commonwealth ut
torneys This seems to be the case
notably in the Ninth. For instance,
i'll Scott county the tax for 1889 is
$ll, 09G.85. The criminal e1pendi-
ture was in the last fiscal year SIS,
O42.40. In Wise county the Tux is
$5,4S9.20, and the criminal expendi-
ture S3,G47.S2. Papers in the Aud.
itor's Office show that ut the August
term, 1889, of the Scott County
Court, the Commonwealth Attor-
noy was paid fees out of the treasury
to the amount OF $50, and two of the
cases prosecuted i'll Which le got $40
were assaults, and four of the cases
in which lie got $40 were prosecu-
tons for shooting along tho road;
and the other prosecutions were for
carrying concealed Weapons. III
Wise county ut the July term, 1889,
the Commonwealth Attorney got
fees amounting to 500 and three of
the cages were Oh indictments for
shooting on the public roads, eight
were on indictments for carrying
concealed weapons, and The other
cases, with few exceptions, were
equally trifling.
One way to meet the trouble is to
require that the State shall pay for
felonies and the counties and cities
for misdemeanors, the expense OF the
latter being double the expense OF
krvinO tho forp,ar