Here’s where I think the Hanging Shad got it wrong. He wrote:
There are several possible reasons for the dramatic increase but one of them is not the fact that marshals—in charge of courthouse security, prisoner transportation and such—were made employees of the judicial branch when the state reformed the old sheriffs’ system. That happened in 2000 and the change is reflected in the 2001 number.
According to the Judicial Branch that change happened in 2003. So the 2001 numbers did not reflect the change this changing the baseline for the calculation.
Further it’s not as if the court’s lacked security in 2002. It doesn’t seem that 853 new people were hired in 2003 as judicial marshals to fill new positions. Those positions existed, just on another line item.
The other additions to staff (probation officers and juvenile detention staff) are quasi judicial. They’re positions that could easily fall under some other branch of government in that they’re not directly related to court operations in the way judges or clerks are. Also, they were created by legislative mandate.
My point in all of this, as someone who uses the judicial branch every day, it feels understaffed. As any litigant or litigator, our court system is not flush with employees.