MOST PROSECUTED UTAH CRIME: DRUGS

Kicking The Addiction: The High Number Of Narcotics Cases Points To The
Need For Special Drug Courts

Drug-related crimes top the list of those most often prosecuted in Utah.

They accounted for the largest group of felony charges filed in fiscal 2005
- - as well as the top two misdemeanor filing categories. Not far behind:
forgery, theft and protective order violations.

Members of the Utah Judicial Council, which sets policy for the state
courts, heard the statistics as part of a recent budget planning session.

Deputy Court Administrator Mark Jones said the number of drug cases points
to the need for - and success of - drug courts. The special courts aim to
help offenders kick their addictions before they wind up committing other
crimes.

"All the different crimes are somehow associated with drug use, whether
it's burglary or forgery," Jones said. "They are trying to steal money to
buy drugs."

Overall, the number of cases filed in state courts is up 3 percent for the
fiscal year, which ended June 30. After a decade of concern from state
judges about the number of law clerks available to assist them with
research, the council voted to make more clerks its top request for new
funding from lawmakers next year.

The courts will ask for seven new law clerk positions totaling $579,600.
That would mean one clerk for every three judges, instead of the current
one clerk for every 4 1/2 judges.

Other new funding requests totaling $1.1 million, in order of priority,
will include: a 4th District court judge and two deputy clerks; a 3rd
District juvenile court judge and two deputy clerks; a 3rd District court
commissioner and one deputy clerk; a child welfare mediator; law library
publications; and data processing equipment.

The courts will ask for $1.3 million in mandatory funding for the state's
Guardian ad Litem Office, which advocates on behalf of abused, neglected
and otherwise vulnerable children within the court system. An April audit
of the office found overloaded attorneys unable to do all the law requires
of them.

The courts will also seek money for construction of a new courthouse in St.
George; renovation of the old post office building in downtown Ogden to
house the 2nd District Juvenile Court; and construction of a new courthouse
in Manti.

Utah's most prosecuted crimes

* Top three felonies: Illegal possession or use of a controlled substance,
18.4%; forgery, 7.3%; theft, 7%.

* Top three misdemeanors: Possession of drug paraphernalia, 9.9%; use or
possession of drug paraphernalia, 7.3%; violation of a protective order, 7.2%.

Source: Utah State Courts