COLUMBIA - South Carolina's criminal justice system is in crisis, partly because the workload of state judges is the highest in the nation, Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal told the Criminal Justice System Task Force.

"This is why we have such a huge backlog, and why you have all these people out on bond committing more crimes," said Toal, who addressed the task force for nearly three hours Thursday without a break.

The chief justice told senators on the panel that state funding should be increased to hire more judges and to improve technology for managing case loads in criminal, civil and family courts.

South Carolina's trial judges handled an average of 4,043 filings in 2003, Toal said, compared with a national average of 1,718 filings per state judge.

The task force was assembled by Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, in response to a surge in violent crime in Charleston and North Charleston this year, with the goal of recommending statewide reforms to the General Assembly.

Charleston police officials and Mayor Joe Riley have blamed an increase in violent crime and homicides on criminal penalties that are too weak and a justice system that puts repeat offenders back on the streets and all but ignores bail and parole violations.

"Is there a crisis, or is it a perceived crisis?" Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Horry, asked Toal.

"I believe there is a real crisis," Toal replied. "I don't think it's a made up or imagined problem."

Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston, said some solicitors have suggested to the task force that judges are working less than full days on the bench. Toal said judges are working hard and aren't being soft on crime, but sometimes find themselves without a case to hear.

"We're not going to get very far with solving street crime in South Carolina if we're busy pointing fingers at who's to blame," said Toal, who noted that solicitors are in charge of case management.

When courts are overwhelmed, criminal defendants spend longer periods of time out on bond while awaiting trial, and some allegedly take the opportunity to commit additional crimes. Other defendants languish in jail, guilty or not, as they await trial and add to prison overcrowding.

The chief justice said better case management by solicitors would help reduce the backlog. Better management would include getting rid of cases that won't stand up in court, she said.

"We've got to get honest about when we've got the evidence to prosecute these cases," Toal said.

Recommendations to the task force, in previous testimony from law enforcement officials and Riley, included tougher criminal penalties for crimes involving guns, warrantless searches of people on probation, DNA sampling of anyone charged with a serious crime and the elimination of parole.

Like Riley, the chief justice said more judges, solicitors, indigent defense attorneys and court staff are needed to relieve courts that are backlogged in most jurisdictions. And like Attorney General Henry McMaster, Toal supports both eliminating parole and seeking alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders.

The chief justice suggested a commission should be formed to review sentencing guidelines. And she said education, employment and the racial climate also must be addressed.

"All those things have to be looked at by leaders like yourselves and like myself," she said.

Toal said the state should fund the courts from general appropriations and stop relying so heavily upon fines and fees.

She said that while overall funding for the Judicial Department increased during the past eight years, funding from state appropriations declined from $41 million in 1999 to less than $35 million in 2006.

"These figures are compelling to me, that the court system is underfunded," McConnell said.

Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com.