State Attorney
General Henry McMaster appears to have reached a
reasonable compromise with the state's prosecutors
on how to divide $2.2 million to combat domestic
violence. We hope the agreement will include a
provision to come back in a year and look at which
programs worked best.
The money has yet to be approved by the
Legislature, but Gov. Mark Sanford and a number of
lawmakers have endorsed the proposal. Under the
agreement reached this week, each of the state's
16 solicitors would get an equal share of
$137,500, but the money must be used to designate
a specific domestic violence prosecutor for cases
in each county's magistrate and criminal courts.
McMaster originally had planned to disperse the
money himself, giving every county enough to hire
its own prosecutor. But solicitors argued that
they had a better knowledge of where the money
should go in circuits that range in size from two
counties to five counties. McMaster agreed to go
along with that, saying that the top priority was
to put prosecutors in magistrate courts, where
many domestic violence cases are first heard.
This arrangement should be beneficial to York
County, which is in a circuit with two counties.
That means the county will get about $40,000 more
than if each of the state's 46 counties had
received equal amounts. The money also should be a
boon for the 6th Circuit encompassing Chester,
Lancaster and Fairfield counties. The 6th Circuit
has the largest backlog of cases in the state.
Proponents of the plan hope that having more
prosecutors to try cases in magistrate courts can
help stem domestic violence in its earlier stages.
Victims who have been reluctant to step forward
because of uncertainty that their cases will get a
fair hearing may be more likely to do so with the
guarantee that a prosecutor will take up their
case. And with a reduction in trial delays, fewer
defendants might opt to take their chances with a
jury.
But that is all supposition at this point. The
attorney general's office needs to review the
results of this program a year or so from the time
it is implemented to determine which county
programs are most effective.
McMaster first proposed his plan to hire more
prosecutors during a hearing last year of a joint
House and Senate committee studying ways to reduce
domestic violence. That hearing was a valuable
exercise, helping to generate ideas about how to
address one of the state's most pressing problems.
The proposal to hire more prosecutors is a
positive step. We hope it won't be the last word,
and that state officials will continue to explore
new ways to reduce domestic violence.
| IN SUMMARY |
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Compromise will allow solicitors to
distribute money to counties for more
prosecutors.
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