If
prison isn’t needed,
keep it local
By Bob Robinson
GREENVILLE – “It isn’t
a judicial philosophy change,” said Common Pleas Judge Jonathan
Hein. “It’s the legislature writing different rules.”
Overcrowded prisons is a
big issue across the country, Hein added. A lot of money and
resources go into the criminal justice system.
In effect, what the state
is saying is, “Don’t send people to prison who don’t need to be
here. Use local resources.”
For example, the state
doesn’t want Felony 4 and Felony 5 (non-violent) offenders.
“Probably a good number
of them did not need to be in prison.” Sometimes low risk offenders
were taken away from their families, their jobs… potentially making
it worse than before they were sent.
Part of it has to do with
the way laws have been written. One example is the crime noted as
“fleeing and eluding.” A police car pulls up behind you and you
attempt to flee…
“That used to be a
traffic offense,” Hein said. “Now it’s a Felony 3. If someone
gets hurt in the process it’s an automatic Felony 1.”
There will likely be more
changes coming in the criminal code.
Hein added just because the
state wants local solutions for local problems doesn’t mean there
isn’t accountability. It’s just a different venue. Often it’s
jail instead of prison.
“We’re using jail more
than ever now. I’ve had people who wanted to get out of jail and go
to prison,” Hein noted. “It just depends on their perspective.”
Local solutions for local
problems. Recidivism is a problem the system is trying to address,
and incarceration by itself does not stop recidivism.
“I’m supposed to start
job training,” Hein said. There are many issues involved in
criminal behavior: education, drugs, mental health… part of the
solution seems to be providing training, helping criminals get their
G.E.D.
“I hired criminal justice
workers… maybe should have hired social workers instead. We aren’t
being nice guys… research shows there is less recidivism if you
deal with these issues.”
Hein noted his position
with the Trial Judges Association (he will be its president next
year) put him in the right place at the right time to apply for a
state grant to help local resources. It provides $10,000 a month,
half of which goes to Darke County Recovery Services and the other
half for a probation officer to “work the streets.”
This was not automatic;
only 25 counties in the state are receiving it. Application had to be
made.
Darke County Prosecutor
Kelly Ormsby had said charges and pleas were not only dictated by law
but also by knowledge of the judge would likely do. Hein agreed but
also noted “knowing the judges” is not a new phenomenon,
especially in rural areas like Darke, Shelby and Mercer Counties.
It’s like a signature…
“Be predictable. Don’t
give a better judgment to one than another. Consistency has value.
Every case is different in some respect (facts), but not the
sentencing side.”
Darke County’s Common
Pleas judge believes over the past 30 years there is less family
strength or concern…
“There seems to be more
willingness to let someone else set values. Like TV. Values get
lost.”
He said there are two parts
to the 10 Commandments. The first four have to do with God…
government should have nothing to do with that. The other six have to
do with social values…
“Somehow we’ve lost
track of the last six… I’m thinking about posting them in my
courtroom with the first four covered up. We have to rebuild those
values.”
Published courtesy of
The Early Bird
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