— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
This morning we received an email from one of the Mission's 'concerned citizens' email lists sharing news of a new “Community Court” system, spearheaded by sit-lie champion George Gascón, coming to the Mission. The reasons for the program seem reasonable — the city's court system is currently tied up with petty crimes, taking resources away from prosecuting serious crimes and leaving many misdemeanor offenses left unpunished. Rather than letting these quality-of-life crimes slip through the cracks, District Attorney Gascón wants to move 20% the misdemeanor caseload to a panel of volunteer neighborhood residents that will sentence the accused to community service and/or restitution.
While optimizing and improving the justice system is a noble task, outsourcing the role judge and jury to the segment of the citizenry that campaigns for banning drinking in Dolores Park, restricting the quantity of public events held outdoors, putting more rules and regulations on people looking to enjoy themselves, advocates against cycling infrastructure in our city, and harasses nightclubs strikes us as a troubling solution to the problem.
The idea that these people, with their bias against marijuana, public intoxication, and street art, could impartially judge the accused dances in the realm of absurdity. As the government gives these activists the same power the courts enjoy, we're one step away from institutionalized vigilante justice.
If you have any interest in telling our DA and Supervisors what you think of this program, or would like serve as a community court justice and bring a little balance to the bench, feel free to attend tonight's meeting:
You are cordially invited to attend a special community meeting on Wednesday, April 13 from 6 to 8 PM.Come hear District Attorney George Gascón discuss the forthcoming Neighborhood Prosecutor and Community Courts program. DA Gascón is launching a new initiative to quickly resolve low level crimes through community leadership and restorative justice. Low level crimes will be immediately referred to the community court neighborhood panels for non-criminal resolutions that combine accountability with neighborhood improvement.
DA Gascón will be joined by Supervisor David Campos and Supervisor Scott Wiener, and representatives from SFPD.
At the meeting, you will learn about the new model, get a chance to dialogue with the DA, and learn how you can volunteer to serve as a community court adjudicator
The meeting will be held at:
Centro Latino Community Center
1656 15th Street
Comments (11)
I can’t wait to bring back the pillory and crowdsourced justice.
What sort of people have the free time and inclination to run this? I shudder to think…
Presumably this system will be offered as a ‘deal’ - “You do this program, we wont prosecute.” This is genious. Can we round up all the bums and other undesirables and put them to work?
I’d argue that it’s the fascists, not the street people, who have a quality of life so low that it’s criminal. After all, if they feel the need to impose their arbitrary will on others, they must be truly hollow inside.
As the government gives these activists the same power the courts enjoy, we’re one step away from institutionalized vigilante justice.
Why not? It’s an SF tradition…
COME ON HULKAMANIACS, ITS TIME TO RUN WILD ON THIS COURT SYSTEM - ELECT THE HULKSTER TO COMMUNITY COURT AND PUNKS WHO DISRESPECT THEIR PARENTS WILL BE PUNISHED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW.
Sweet, can’t wait to get all my bros elected to community court.
“Hrm… caught tagging eh? Well lets see this tag, is it TOTALLY SICK????”
As the government gives these activists the same power the courts enjoy, we’re one step away from institutionalized vigilante justice.
You’re afraid that the anti drinking in dolores park crowd is going to get… violent? In fact i think the opposite is more likely to occur. Sure you cheese eaters will take your drinking in public penalty in stride, but just wait until a ‘banger decides to retaliate against the yuppies who made him pick up trash or paint over his own tag.
on this note, i highly recommend the recent This American Life episode all about Drug Court in Georgia. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/430/very-tough-love
Very few of the actual judges in the SF Courts are San Francisco residents. I think its right to worry about putting judge-like powers in the hands of locals that might not have the same qualifications and experience levels of SF judges - but there’s something to be said for local residents having a greater say in things like sentencing instead of a commuter judge driving in from Marin County every day to sentence people.
The only people against marijuana are the ones who have never tried it.
Ya I know THEY prefer people get on the legally subsidized perscription d’s.
Think I’ll go smoke the rest of that twenty I bought almost a year ago.
And if that upsets somebody… good.