xt7vx05x8k05 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7vx05x8k05/data/mets.xml Georgia United States. Work Projects Administration. Georgia 1937 xii, 176 p. incl. illus. (maps) tables (part fold.) diagrs., forms. 28 cm. UK holds archival copy for ASERL Collaborative Federal Depository Program libraries. Call number HV6793.G4 A5 1937. books  English [Atlanta] This digital resource may be freely searched and displayed in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. Georgia Works Progress Administration Publications Survey of Criminal Court Procedure in Georgia. Official Project No. 65-34-4543. A Works Progress Administration Project. Sponsored by the State Department of Public Welfare of Georgia text Survey of Criminal Court Procedure in Georgia. Official Project No. 65-34-4543. A Works Progress Administration Project. Sponsored by the State Department of Public Welfare of Georgia 1937 1937 2015 true xt7vx05x8k05 section xt7vx05x8k05     >··  ~—·~· " . ·   -
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LIST OF APPENDIX TABLES
Pup Page
15 TABLE 1 Felone Admltted to the Georgla Penlteutlary ......, 109 `
15 TABLE 2 Persons Jalled - By Crlme of Ihleh Accused ....... 110 j
16 TABLE 5 Month by lionth Varlatlons of Persons Jalled ....... 112 `
22 TABLE M Ages of Persons Accused of Crlmes ......... 115 1
31 TABLE 5 Ball Bonds Required ln Felony and lllsdemeanor Cases ..... 155
32 TABLE 6 Types of Ball Bonds Accepted ln Fulton County, Georgle. .... 155
31* TABLE 7 Ball Bond Assessment ln an Urban Georgia County ...... 15%
36 TABLE 5 Ball Bond Assessments ln Georgla Counties ,______ 155
57 TABLE 9 Bond Forfeltures ln en Urban Georgia County _______ 155
B8 TABLE 10 Collections of Ball Bond. Forfeltures , ....... 156
lm TABLE 11 Flnal Judgments on Ball Bond Forfeltures _______ 136
In TABLE l2 Detalled Llst of Miscelleneous lilsdemeanore _______ 157
nz TABLE 15 Hledemesnor Cases - By Year ln Which Docketed ______ 155
M TABLE lk Mlsdemeanor Cases - By County ln lhlch Docketed ______ l¤»O Y
1*5 TABLE 15 Perlod Between Dooketlng and Trlal of Csses _______ l¥2
46 TABLE 16 lllsdemeenor and Felony Cases - By Year ln Ihloh Dooketed ,,__ 1*+5
ug TABLE 17 lilsdemeanor and Fslorw Cases - By County ln Ihkh Docketed ,,,, 1%
1+9 TABLE 15 Period Between Docketlng and Trlal of Cases _______ 150
52 msu: 19 cases mt Tried. _,__________ 152
51+ TABLE 20 Sentences for Mlsdemeanor Cases ,_,,,,,,, 156
55 TABLE 21 Sentences for Felony Cases ________b_ 162
60 TABLE 22 Crlmlnal Gases Before the Court of Appeals of Georgla _,_,, 169
62 TABLE 25 Crlmlnal Cases Before the Supreme Court of Georgla _,___ 170
66 TABLE 2)+ Countles from whlch Cases were Csrrled to the Appellate Courts _ _ _ 170
67 TABLE 25 Dlsposltlon'0f Cases Before the Court of Appeals of Georgla _ _ _ 171
58 TABLE 26 Dlspostlon of Crlmlnsl Cases Before the Supreme Court of Georgla. _ _ 171
58 TABLE 27 Perlod Between Flllng of Cases end Thelr Dlsposal - The Court of .
58 A1>p¤¤1¤ ¤f Georkia ............ 172
39 TABLE 25 Perlod Between Flllng of Cases and Thelr Dlsposal - The Supreme
VO Court of Georgla ____________ 172
V2 TABLE 29 Requests to the Supreme Court tor wrlts or Certlorarl _____ 175
3 TABLE 50 Relation of Cases Reversed to Cases Appealed __,__ · _ 175
O TABLE 5L Releases Granted ____________ 175
1 TABLE 52 Pardons — Commutatlons - Paroles - By lllnlmum Sentence Imposed , _ , 175
1 TABLE 55 Releases Granted Prisoners under Llfe Imprlsonment Sentences ln the
1 Georgia Penltentlary ___________ 176 ·
2 TABLE 5}+ Number of Escapes - Felony Cases ln the Georgla Penltentlary _ _ _ 176 A
 
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‘ LssI OF CI-IAIUS, MAPS, Amo EXHIBITS
Page
_ HAP I Counties Studied .... ; ...... x
A CHART I Age of Persons Admitted to Georgia Penitentiary _,_,, 17
· EXHIBIT I Month by Month Vsrlstlons of Persons Jsiled ,,,,,, 18
EXHIBIT II Ages of Persons Accused of Crimes ....... , 20
I CHART II Bonds for Felony and Misdemesnor Gases ..... . . 31
CHART III Types or Bell Bonds Accepted in Fulton County, Georgie 1926—1935 , , 32
CHART IV Types of Bell Bonds Accepted in Fulton County, Georgia — J935 . . 3}
’ MAP II Counties in which the City Courts were Studied .... . 37
MAP III Cases Reversed to Cases Appesled ,..... , . 78
MAP IV Circuits of the Buperlor Court of Georgie ,,... . $u
_ EXHIBIT I Jail Docket Schedules _,,_______ lO7
Y EXHIBIT 2 Schedules in Trial Courts _,_______ 107
. EXHIBIT 3 Schedules in Appellate Courts _________ 108
EXHIBIT 4 Schedule Used for Prison Commission Cases _,____ 108
EXHIBIT 5 Superior Court Circuits in which the Judges Receive Sslerles Paid
. by the ¤¤Im‘¤y ............ 154
` EXHIBIT 6 Typlcsl Recidivist Cases ,_________ 155
I
I EXHIBIT 7 Procedure Used In Gathering Data from Prison Commission ____ 176
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PREFACE
_ The State Department of Public Welfare ls charged with the duty
ge of collectlng, compiling, and publishing statlstlcs and information
X regarding the delinquent, dependent, and defective classes. No fact-
flndlng expedltlon regarding delinquent classes could be complete
L7 without some information regarding the operation of the criminal
courts ln whlch these persons are tried.
L8
With the a1d of funds from the American Institute of Criminal
gg Law, the State Department of Public Welfare in l92¤ made a study of
cases comlng before the Superior and City Courts of f1ve representa-
gl tive counties of Georgia. Few studles of this type had then been at-
tempted and the technique developed was utilized by surveys ln other
;g states. The study covered a total of 12,052 cases brought before the
courts during the years 1916 and 1921. Full credit for its success is
3 given to Boyce M. Edens and Hugh N. Fuller, who were connected wlth
the Department in 192U.
7 A more extensive crlmlnal court study was made by Hugh N. Fuller
5 in 1928, when 89,671 cases appearing before six of the larger criminal
courts during the ten—year period l9l6—l925 were surveyed. Such ques-
g tions as amount of court business, frequency of certain crimes, tlme
of dlsposltlon, certainty of punishment, and type of sentence lmposed
were given particular attention.
7 The two studies mentioned above were made for the purpose of as-
sisting the officers of the court, the judge particularly, ln under-
z standing the work of the court and something about the persons coming
before lt. It is regretted that court records do not lncluds more of
; the case histories of defendants. This fact naturally limits the
scope of any court study.
I Seeing the need for a contlnuatlon of criminal court research ln
Georgia, the Department appealed to the Works Progress Administration
of Georgia to approve a project which would include a survey of a rep-
resentative group of countles of Georgia. Through the close coopera-
tion of the Works Progress Admlnlstratlon, such a pro&ect was under-
taken ln the fall of l9§5. This survey covered 2jM,}2 cases from the
trial courts of flfty-seven representative counties.
Wlth every section of the State included in the Survey of Crimi-
nal Court Procedure ln Georgia, valuable information regarding the re-
lationship of crime to geographical areas has been dlscovered. This
survey, utilizing as lt has the pioneer work of the State Department
of Public Welfare in former studlee, undoubtedly will furnish a re-
port of criminal court business which will be invaluable to court of-
ficials, students of criminology, social workers, and the interested
public.
The State Department of Public Welfare, as Sponsor of the proj-
ect, wlshes to thank the Works Progress Administration for the time
and funds expended in this endeavor.
D1 tate Dspjétment of
Public Welfare
Atlanta, Georgia
February 1, 1937
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   COUNTIES IN WHICH THE
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  _ MECHANICS OF THE SUDVEY
Thls survey, deslgned to determlne how flne the mllls of the Georgla court
system grlnd, slfted and graded the grlst of the several courts. The sample se-
lected for study contains sllghtly more than one-thlrd of the countles of the
} State, and a trlfle more than one—half lts populatlon. The perlod covered ls
i representative of Georgla's current court and crlmlnal problems, slnce lt covers
~ the decade closlng December 31, 1935. This ten-year perlod should reflect com-
pletely the problems exlstent not only today, but also those ln the days of nu-
merous buslness fallures.
< The court system of Georgla ls bullt around the county as a baslc unlt. I
I Practlcally all types of countles found wlthln the State were represented ln the
l group chosen. A complete llst of these countles ls shown on the map on the op-
\ poslte page.
Thls survey was planned as a deflnlte part of the Works Progress Admlnls-
tratlon program ln Georgla, wlth a vlew of utlllzlng the talents of large num-
bers of people then upon rellef rolls. Many of these lndlvlduals had had expe-
rlence ln and about the courthouses of the State, and were relatlvely famlllar
wlth court procedure and court records. Over 250 persons were employed at varl-
ous tlmes on thls survey. Close supervlslon was glven these people at all tlmes.
and they found few dlfflcultles ln securlng the deslred data.
When prellmlnary reconnaissance was made for thls survey, lt was dlscovered
‘ that the complete records of a crlmlnal case had to be gathered from several
sources. Records of arrests are kept ln the offlce of the sherlffs; records of
trlal are kept ln the offlce of the clerk of the court; records after sentence
. are kept by the Prlson Commlsslon; and records of appeals are kept ln the appel-
; late courts. The records of several offlces must be searched before the com-
{ plete record of any lndlvldual case can be complled. It was soon dlscovered ‘
that, except ln a few localltles, lt would be lmposslble to trace on a slngle
schedule the hlstory of a case from the arrest to flnal dlsposltlon. Therefore,
lt was declded to dlvlde the data gatherlng lnto four dlstlnct parts; part one
to cover the information regardlng the arrest, bondlng, or jalllng of the ac-
cused; part two to cover the progress of the crlmlnal case before the trlal
court; part three to cover the progress before the appellate courts; part four
to cover the records of the Prlson Commlsslon.
Each sherlff ln the State of Georgla ls requlred by statute to keep a jall
docket. Thls jall docket ls supposed to contaln a record of the age, sex, and
color of the person arrested, the crlme charged, the date and process of commlt-
ment, and the date and process of release. In Fulton County, lt was posslble to
place upon the same schedule lnformatlon concernlng the amount of the bond de-
manded of persons arrested and the lnformatlon from the sherlff's jail docket.
Many sherlffs have record books deslgned to recelve the full lnformatlon called
for ln the Code, but ln many cases the value of such lnformatlon was not compre-
I hended, and often the sherlff saw flt to keep only a partlal record of the per-
~ sons sent to jall. It was found to be unusual for the sherlff to keep a record
g of all persons arrested. Generally the sherlff kept ln hls jall docket such ln-
/ ] formatlon as he deemed germane to the case, whlch, ln some countles, consisted
ska;. l only of the name of the accused, hls age, and the crlme wlth whlch charged. In
,4//{ip other countles, the race was considered of equal lmportance, and only ln a very
gy few countles was an accurate record kept of the process of commltment and re-
;} lease. (See Appendlx A, Exhlblt l, for schedule used.)
i y Usually, the record of the trlal courts was more nearly complete than that
{ ln the sherlff's offlce. However, thls was not always the case, slnce lncomplete
1 records were found ln more than one county. In one county, for lnstance, no ef-
fort was made by the clerk to lndex hls court dockets. In the trlal courts, lt
ls customary to docket each case on a crlmlnal or bench docket. For the‘Superlor
Court, thls record should be completed by the judge.
In gatherlng the data as deslred from the trlal courts, the workers usually
started wlth the crlmlnal docket and secured therefrom a record of the begln -
nlng of the case and thence traced the case through the mlnute docket, a day-
by-day record of the events before the court, to lts concluslon wlthln that
court. In many countles lt was necessary at tlmes to complete a schedule by re-
ferrlng to the orlglnal papers (warrants, indictments, accusatlons). Thls was
~ posslble ln practlcally every county studied. One dlfflculty encountered ln the
; completlon of the schedules ln the trlal courts was the practlce of many sollcl-
\ tors of uslng blanket lnstead of speclflc charges. In one clty court, more than
nlnety percent of the persons before- the court were charged wlth the blanket
charge "mlsdemeanor."
` Dlfferent schedules were designed for the superlor and clty courts, due to
\ certaln general differences ln the procedure of these two courts. Where county
courts lnstead of clty courts were studled, the same schedule was used for both
\
xl

 ;ourts slnoe the procedures within them are quite similar. (Copies of the sched-
ules used in the trial courts will be found in Appendix A, Exhibit 2.)
_ The data for the appellate courts were relatlvely easy to secure since the
records of both the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court are quite similar and
.rj have been kept during the period of the study by the same group of officials.
{ In this particular schedule, effort was made to determine the type of cases se-
, curing appeals and the t1me of disposition of these appeals.