Sam Dean The Roanoke Times

Retired Circuit Court Judge Ford Quillen, who still hears some cases, listens as a defendant speaks in his defense during a sentencing hearing in December.

SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

A defendant receives a bond hearing in Franklin County Circuit Court in December. Court sources say the increase is in property crimes such as fraud, larceny and burglary rather than violent crimes. Police say they have better tools to help them recover stolen property, which helps solve more theft cases.

ROCKY MOUNT -- The first week of the new year brings a busy docket for Franklin County Circuit Court.

The grand jury meets today to hand down indictments. Cases for the rest of the week include trials and appearances for charges of forgery and fraud, larceny and embezzlement.

Judge William Alexander has seen more and more of these types of cases recently.

His docket has seen a 50 percent increase in criminal court cases over 2008, he said.

More than 1,600 criminal cases have been sent to the Circuit Court between January and September 2009. Only 1,074 were heard during the same time period in 2008.

The number of cases alone doesn't really mean anything without looking at the number of defendants, Alexander said. Many times, one defendant may have numerous cases.

But even the number of defendants was up over the same periods by more than 100.

Circuit Court Clerk Theresa Brown said the increases were in cases of forgery, larceny, embezzlement, shoplifting and breaking and entering.

"The economy, hardships, loss of jobs -- I'm sure that comes into play," said Lt. Steve McGuire, head of investigations for the county sheriff's office.

Specifically, his investigators have seen an increase in property crimes such as breaking and entering, burglary and larceny, McGuire said.

They have also seen an increase in theft of "big ticket" items such as lawn tractors and jewelry.

"There has to be some correlation between that and the economy," McGuire said.

Alexander agrees.

"It [the economy] is a big factor," he said. "But just how big, I don't know."

While some believe the economy plays a role in the increase, Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood disagrees.

"It's really hard to tell why crimes go up and down," he said. "There's not a consistent pattern. It's hard to say."

It could be that the sheriff's office is solving more crimes, bringing the commonwealth's attorney more cases to prosecute, Hapgood said.

Last year the sheriff's office worked more fraud cases than it has ever done before, he said.

Also, a new computer program giving detectives access to pawn shop inventory has allowed them to recover a lot of stolen merchandise -- and press charges, McGuire said.

What causes crime has been debated for centuries, Ferrum College criminology professor William Osborne said.

"My gut reaction is that the increase in the court docket could be due to several situational factors besides the economy," he said. While many studies have been conducted on unemployment and increased crime rates, there aren't too many theories that show the two go hand in hand, Osborne said.

"The conditions that contribute most to increases in criminal activity are communities that are socially disorganized and where residents have few social bonds to conventional behavior," Osborne said. "I do not see a breakdown in social bonds in Franklin County."

Because of the increase in cases -- no matter what has caused it -- judges, prosecutors and their staffs are having to change their work schedules.

Alexander already hears cases five days a week, but his days have gotten longer, he said.

And the commonwealth's attorney's office -- already understaffed, according to Hapgood -- is working longer days as well.

Circuit Court isn't the only one with an increased workload, either. Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court has seen more criminal cases as well, Hapgood said. So many in fact, that starting this year Judge Sarah Rice will go from hearing cases four days a week to five days, Hapgood said.