State's Attorneytor Report

In Aberdeen when someone commits a crime, either felony or misdemeanor, they are usually prosecuted by the State of South Dakota. For example when someone gets their indictment, or other court paperwork, it should say at the top: State of South Dakota vs _________. Since the State is doing the prosecuting instead of the city or county, each county has their own state’s attorney’s office. This is similar to the materials discussed in class. In the book it refers to district or county attorneys; those prosecutors much like ours are elected, and prosecute crimes committed in that county. The Brown County State’s Attorney office currently has five lawyers, and four legal aids. One of those lawyers is the state’s attorney, one is the chief deputy, and the other three are regular deputy attorneys. An average salary for a state’s attorney is between $75,000-80,000; while the total budget for the whole office is approximately $700,000.
A state’s attorney normally doesn’t take many cases themselves; they are mostly in charge of the office, some criminal
In 2007 the average budget for an office serving under 100,000 people was $526,000. Even with nine years of inflation, Brown County’s budget of $700,000 is above average. That big of a difference in funds gives Aberdeen an advantage, which could be a factor in how we keep our crime rate so low. The number of people on staff compares well to the national average also. On average prosecuting offices serving under 100,000 people have ten people on staff. Brown County falls just one short with nine people on staff. One thing that doesn’t compare to us nationally is salary. The national average for a state’s attorney is between $50,000-73,000; so most will be earning somewhere around $62,000. A state’s attorney in Brown County makes almost $15,000 more which is a considerable amount higher. Over all when looking at the national statistics, we are pretty