Overview

• New Jersey is primarily a state-funded court system.  Since the unification of the New Jersey State Judiciary in 1998, the counties are responsible provide the judiciary with adequate facilities to conduct court business and the cost of some pre-trial services  New Jersey’s total appropriation was $835.2 million in FY11 and will be $841 million in FY12.  This minor increase includes additional grant funding and increased federal funding.  The New Jersey courts are under-funded in FY12 by approximately $25 million; the state did not cover the expense of contractual salary increases that the courts are obligated to pay to represented staff.
• New Jersey will be able to maintain the same number of judges and staff but will need to reduce the amount spent on operating costs.
• To reduce spending, New Jersey has instituted a program by which each new hire position is reviewed by a hiring Review Board to be certain the title fits the job responsibilities. This has resulted in a significant savings in salaries. The judiciary has also restricted discretionary spending and deferred initiatives and projects. 
• The New Jersey courts have implemented a number of technology initiatives:
• the Judiciary Electronic Filing and Imaging System (JEFIS) was adopted to handle the explosion of foreclosure cases;
• Automated Juror-On-Line access has improved the ability to communicate with prospective jurors;
• website enhancements and increased social media use has improved public access.
• electronic ticketing and payments have eliminated manual data entry and has increased the speed of process flow, and
• availability of an electronic document management system has enabled significant expansion of access to court information by the Department of Corrections and by attorneys.
• To increase efficiency in the courts, the New Jersey courts have discontinued the operation of Camden Prep, a residential juvenile treatment facility which had been under the auspices of the New Jersey Judiciary.

Reports and Articles

• Steven Malanga. "The Court that Broke Jersey." City Journal. Winter 2012. Vo. 22., no.1
• Colin Asher."Recession and State Budget Cuts Force Hudson County’s Legal Services Office to Do More With Less." Jersey City Independent. October 8, 2010.

Gavel to Gavel

• Database. Search the Gavel to Gavel legislation database based on state, year, legislation category, or any combination.