PAGE SIX
OMK
Study Reveals Motorists uve Biggest
Volume Os Business To Criminal Courts
North Carolina’s criminal
courts get their biggest volume
of business from motorists.
And motorists get from the
inferior courts "of the state treat
ment that varies from court to
court according to the methods
and techniques these courts
have designed to meet their lo
cal needs.
That there is little uniformity
and often little similarity in the
treatment of motorists and the
procedures of these lower courts
is shown in a study made for the
North Carolina Bar Association’s
Committee on Improving and
Expediting the Administration
of Justice by James Albert
House, Jr., of Chapel Hill, as
sistant director of the Institute
of Government. J. Spencer Bell
of Charlotte is chairman of the
committee.
The research work was done
on the more than 125,000 motor
vehicle cases handled by 32 Su
perior Courts and 61 inferior
courts in 1956. One-third of the
11,561 criminal cases disposed of
by the 32 Superior Courts anc’
two-thirds of those in the 61 in
ferior courts involved charges
of traffic violations. The Su
perior Courts tried 1,337 drunken
driving cases as well as 77f
SDeeding cases, 473 reckless
driving cases and 907 cases con
cerned with other motor vehicle
regulations.
Os the 199,705 cases handled
by the inferior courts included
in the study, 123.856 involve'’
motor vehicles, as did 62 3 per
cent of all cases which werr
pending in 1957 when the re
search was done. There wer<~
53,765 speeding cases, 6.96 F
drunken driving cases, 8,276
reckless driving cases, 41,107
cases dealing with oth r r moto'
vehicle regulations, tnd 13.743 ir
which violations of municipa l
traffic ordinances were charged.
This great bulk of motor ve
hicle cases has resulted in the
establishment of such plans a~
waiver of appearance and cash
bond forfeitures and the use of
“justices of the peace-policemen”
and “clerks of the court-police
men” for the convenience of
both the courts and the motor
ists, In fact, in more than one
fourth of the cases examined the
defendant never appeared in
court. He took advantage of one
I ■
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EDENTOH
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of the various systems by which
appearance may be waived. The
i Institute report points out that
although the legality of these
systems has been questioned, the
courts continue to use them.
In the Superior Courts, it has
found that only 614 of the 3,492
motor vehicle cases went through
the trial process to the entry of
a not guilty plea and only 57.7
per cent of these resulted in con
victions. However, for the total
number of cases, pleas admitting
guilt plus the convictions brought
to 2,347 or 67.2 per cent the
cases in which the defendant
was the loser. The .most used
form of punishment was fine and
costs, which was imposed in 31.9
per cent o fthe casts. Imprison
ment suspended or fine and/or
costs and imprisonmentsuspend
ed came next .with 20.8 per cent
of the cases, and active impris
onment terms were imposed in
9.4 per cent of them. The de
fendant was found not guilty or
his case was dismissed, nol
prossed . or . otherwise disposed
of in 37.9 per cent of the cases.
There was a higher rate of
conviction in the inferior courts,
where only 1211 per‘cent of the
defendants went free of punish
ment. There, the most prevalent
forms of punishment were costs
only and fine and costs, which
were generally imposed except
m drunken driving cases. In
these, a large percentage of the
punishments included suspended
orison sentences.
From analyzing the cases, the
research staff reached the con
tusion that while the defendant
trifd in Superior Court may re
ceive more severe punishment if
he is convicted, his chance, per
centage-wise, of an acquittal is
much greater there than in the
inferior courts.
Many variations in the lower
courts in punishments, fines and
costs imposed for the same of
fenses were found in the study.
For instance, in on? court a mo
torist must pay a $25 fine and j
sl7 in costs and retain an attor
ney in order to waice appear
ance on a charge of speeding 65
miles an hour in a 55-mile zone.
But his neighbor, charged with
the identical offense in a nearby
town, has to pay only court
costs amounting to less than
$lO. In many courts, the cost
in a minor traffic offense is less.
THE CHOWAN HERALD, mypTftW, MOUTH CAROUW K THTmgPAY SEPTEMBER 85, 18M.
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ROARING WELCOME FOR NEW LEGION COMMANDER Preston J. Moore, left.
new American Legion national 'commander, receives a wild’welcome as he arrives at his
Stillwater, Gkla., home- from -the Chicago Legion convention where he was elected. Said ■
Commander Moore, “It broke me up a little.” • . ■
than $lO, while in others, for the
same violation, it is as much as
S2O or S3O.
The report shows also that in
three times as many cases in
Superior Court as in the inferior
courts either active or suspended
imprisonment terms were im
posed and the median length of
those terms in - Superior Court
was larger than in inferior
courts. In drunken driving and
reckless driving cas.s, imprison
ment terms . were given more
often. in lpwer courts, and, thp
median term was about the same
for both lower and Superior
Courts.
The committee also released a
report on jury trials in criminal
cases in the inferior courts by
Bernard Harrell of the Institute
staff.
This report shows that defend
ants who wish trial by jury in
the inferior courts sometimes
have to make jury deposits vary
ing from $3 to $42, depending
upon the court. Sometimes,
however, they are not required
to make any such deposits.
An analysis of the 17 inferior
courts in which jury trials were
held in 1956 shows that only 577
of 37,673 cases were heard by
juries. The overall percentage
of convictions in jury trials was
69.67 as compared with 76.01 in
cas s tried by a judge alone. It
I was also found that in 24 cases
tried by judges alone, the judg
ment was that the defendant pay
only a fine. In only 189 cases
did the judge impose the costs
of court. In contrast, none of
the defendants convicted in cases
tried by juries received only a
judgm nt to pay a fine and a
judgment of court costs alone
was imposed in only 22 of 402
convictions. The conclusion
reached - was that judgments in
jury-tried cases tend to be
slightly more harsh than those
in judge-tried cases.
When it comes !o money,
enough is enough—no man can
enjoy more.’ ’ '' '
Aged To Perfection! tJVM Commercial Small Lean Center Cut ILARYEST OF
CHUCK ROAST Pork Chops S™,
lb. 39c :■ >..610
Closely Trimmed 2 1 /£-lb. Cello \-JW A A
Steaks ' p rank S: MTffSSt
Fresh Lean Boneless _ J
Stewing Beef 534 bag 89 c
Fresh Lean _ ' Small Fresh Pork
Ground Beef 434
Win $15.00 Worth of Food Each ' maroon WH HH M » Hill ' 3-tb. Can Golden
Week for 10 Weeks ... Register Fresh S B Bit t HtflßN N ; ■ __ ;
As Often As You Wish! Green Crisp 17 I TT|7|7 fl
Dra, tl^ l,er 4 Cabbaged 19c * L U U
Sugar 5 S 35c 18 ' 0Z -sunkmt can file
WITH A PURCHASE OF SIO.OO OR MORE I /WMAMA O X I -
~ Lemons . Jl c 10-Lb.B^Mhnd’s
p* . 1 Lb. Gorton’s Ocean
r* If Perch Foiet. ■ 39c °
16-oz. Minute Maid Sliced -
YET p f%pi ml | Strawberries i 29 C H
L 2 i VgW —as a HJgj .. ,7 3?
*Vs JOI Pf7 ZA S K XQr I WITH COUPON ON PAGE 2—SECTION 3 ;
* 1 Li n U C I OF THIS WEEK S CHOWAH HERALD
i^————g——gMP—p———i———i
; 1 -lb. Box Strieimamvs 16-os. Box I Pkg. Sunshin* V THEBE ARE I TALL>ET OR CARNATION
CLUB CHEESE '■'oocl NABISCO I I
11lb. Cello Pkg FKohti Mams''« Pkg.
IM,MMM^M »^^^ l b^^nTleanlir MM^^l^^rßo^>n l « t Am»rican B-oa. Pkg. Fould’a 8-o«. Vscuum P^BpsdU Pstty
46-ci. DelMonl* can 146-oa. Can DoU*. I No. 2 Adam ca»*WhU» BriatJa each
' ,ronoTmiTiirmM ■ui *uiiua iiifftA 41 !*■ 1 §OllOll 4ii|*
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CENTER HILL CLUB MEETS
The Center H.ll 4-H Club held
its monthly meeting at the home
of Judy Haste. The meeting was
called to order by the president,
Kay Frances White. New officers
were elected for the coming year
and follow; Kay White, president:
Jimmy Turner, vice president;
—3—7“
uiioy riosie,, secretary, ounny
White and Joey As bell, reporters;
Frances Smithson, Joann Cope
land, Susan Evans ahdi Emmett
Jones refreshment committee.
Members discussed a booth at
the Chowan Cotinty Fair, gang a
few songs and repeated the 4-H
Pledge before adjourning. Re
freshments were served by Judy
Haste which were very much en
joyed.
| Vets’ Question Box 1
v.
Q —l have been ordered to’sup
port my two children, who are in
legal custody of my former'wife.
Can I get a GI loan •to buy a
house for them to live in? ,
i A—No. VA requires that you
certify that you intend to reside
in a house bought with a GI loan.
The court order that yoii trfuat,
support the children does not al
ter the fact that you do riot in
terid to live in the house yourself.
• 1
Break up cliques, level wealth
With honest'', let worth be >
judged according to wisdom, and
we get better views of human
ity. —Mary Baker Eddy. .
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GOLDEN m
$2- p 3? /spyf
■ i'y* 'pi- 1 B
scHtm.Fr mtuhi co. iinitut my ju, hom ion imi« heutial smuts, to hoof.
TRY A HERALD CLASSIFIED AD
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