State legislator wrestles with potential cut to prosecution funds

A strong advocate of curbing domestic violence, state Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, is wrestling the prospect of cutting funding to prosecute and defend those accused of domestic violence as state revenues plummet.

A member of the Joint Criminal Domestic Violence Study Committee, Erickson said she is trying to decide if she will vote to cut $2.2 million for the prosecution and public defense of criminal domestic violence cases as proposed in the House’s latest $6.6 billion spending plan.

Those are the kinds of difficult decisions legislators face during difficult economic times, she said.

The comptroller general’s office says state revenues will fall nearly $1 billion this over the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Criminal domestic violence prosecutions are “certainly one of the items that I will work to protect,” she said. “As a state, we need to make sure we are doing everything we can for those folks in danger. At the same time, we also must examine what programs and agencies are making the best use of our tax dollars and are giving us the most bang for our buck.”

The state planned to spend more than $3.3 million for the prosecution and public defense of criminal domestic violence cases in the 2009 fiscal year.

The 2010 budget is expected to be debated on the House floor next week.
Each year, more than 36,000 domestic violence reports are filed with state law enforcement agencies, according to statistics from S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster.

More than 1,500 incidents of domestic violence were reported in Beaufort County in 2007. South Carolina ranks seventh nationally in the number of murders linked each year to criminal domestic violence, with an average of 38 people killed each year by their partner.

As the recession depresses state revenues, Erickson said she has written letters asking each state agency to show how it’s using appropriations.

“We’ve never seen this kind of loss in tax revenues, not ever,” she said. “It’s pitting people and programs against one another. Everyone has to justify their existence right now.”

Erickson said federal stimulus dollars and grants might be one way to fund criminal domestic violence prosecutions and public defense.

“When we know what the pull-down is going to be from the stimulus, we might be able to use that money to fund the CDV prosecutions and use our tax dollars somewhere else,” she said. “There are so many nuances to this right now. It’s just mind-boggling.”

Joel Sawyer, spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford, said the governor’s office still is reviewing the budget but “we believe funding the prosecution component is important.”

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