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Corruption in the Courts: The 1997 Trial Court Funding Act
Court Corruption Codified: California Assembly Bill AB 233
By KT, Executive Editor
Very few California taxpayers were aware when California Assembly Bill 233, Chapter 850, "THE
LOCKYER-ISENBERG TRIAL COURT FUNDING ACT OF 1997", was passed and put into the Statutes, yet all are experiencing
the repercussions. The Act, whose summary is 140 pages in length, was authored in part by Attorney General Bill
Lockyer. In essence, the Act gave local courts the ability to receive commissions on each successful conviction.
While, on its face, AB 233 seemed to be a way to deter crime, the implementing statute actually gives incentives
to judges, police officers and district attorneys to rope as many people into the court process as possible. Like
any other commission structure, it is a numbers game. The higher the number of defendants created, the higher the
payout for the police officer, the judge, and the District Attorney. Click on the link below to read the Act for
yourself.
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