From the article:
The state sets aside less than 2 percent of its general fund for the judicial system, but Mecklenburg County isn’t even getting its fair share of that, according to Bart Menser of the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office.“We've got 9 percent of the population, 9 percent of the court cases, 20 percent of the violent index crimes and 15 percent of the property index,” Menser said. “We get 6.7 percent of the judicial branch budget.”
There are approximately 190,000 misdemeanors and traffic cases filed every year in Mecklenburg County. There are about 8,000 felony filings. However, there are only 52 assistant district attorneys.
“It's a job to stick a hundred-and-something thousand cases into 936 days,” Menser said. “If you multiply the whole thing out, it comes out to about two minutes per case.”
Officials say that is why there are so many plea bargains in Mecklenburg County and so many people caught with lengthy criminal records. Some members of the task force said they would make recommendations to try to help out the District Attorney’s Office. The final report is due in July.