You're right about "lag time" in actual act of 1) crime ---> 2) arrest ----> 3) trial
I looked back to a couple of Wake County cases & found, as I suspected, about a 2-year gap between arrest and trial.
Jason Young....crime..1/06..arrest...12/09...trial....06/11 (hung jury)
Brad Cooper.............crime/arrest...07/08....trial...04/10
Ryan Hare................crime/arrest...11/08...trial...09/10
They've just cut the Wake Co. budget for the DA's office; LEO's are pretty sophisticated and getting smarter every day, but probably understaffed in nearly all positions, and what they do costs money.
And if you look on the DOC's records of what penalties are given vs. time served, it looks like they serve about 80% of the low end of the time given. It's dollars, dollars, and dollars.
I'm not familiar with the requirement to seek a plea in all cases -- but that doesn't mean a thing that I don't know -- but the DAs office does try to deal when they can.... And there is crowding in some (all ?) correctional facilities. Grrrrr.
Maybe we'll see something soon on this. I can't see them being too generous. Plus the Fed drug charges could be large & I have no idea how they regard plea deals.
Fat lotta help this was...