Courier-Journal Editorial Makes An Important Point. Read More.
Read the editorial here, or excerpts below:
Absent police
There may no such thing as justice in or out of the court, as Clarence Darrow famously said, but our judicial system is supposed to offer at least a shot at some formal accountability in addressing wrongs or wrongdoings.
Of course, even that shot at accountability can't happen if the people necessary to a case don't bother to show up. Say, the police.
"Officer Absent/Case Dismissed," a recent investigative series in The Courier-Journal, reported at least 1,000 cases were dismissed in Jefferson District Court in 2007 because Louisville Metro Police officers missed their court appearances.
More than 600 defendants charged with felonies such as drug dealing, robbery, burglary and assault walked because no police showed up for the court date.
Valid reasons for not being there? Goldbricking? Who knows? There's no system for tracking and analyzing the absences, either.
And though the newspaper investigation also revealed at least 300 of the roughly 1,200 LMPD officers had a felony case thrown out of court because they didn't appear, only one officer was disciplined for missing court in 2007.
As bad as all that is, even more troubling are the revelations that this problem has existed for years, and has been acknowledged among stakeholders over the years, and nothing has been done to rectify or improve the situation.
On top of that, principal entities -- police and prosecutors -- in this ongoing failure are more engaged in pointing fingers at each other than fixing things.
And defendants keep walking.
As one police studies professor told reporters Jason Riley and R. G. Dunlop, "It seems like a lax system that sooner or later is going to lead to a disaster."
We don't think this is what city fathers mean by "Possibility City."
Enough.
Other cities have come up with ways to monitor and track police officers' court appearances. We should, too.
Other cities have managed to find the vision, the will and the funds to transform inefficient, archaic and slapdash paper subpoena systems -- such as the one we have now -- to electronic subpoena deliveries. We should, too.
If none of this happens, we need to ask ourselves this question: If police and prosecutors don't respect the system enough to fix it, how can we have any faith in it or them?
Editor's comment: I AGREE, and it is so SAD and inexcusable neglect.
To read more about the series mentioned here, check this out.
Absent police
There may no such thing as justice in or out of the court, as Clarence Darrow famously said, but our judicial system is supposed to offer at least a shot at some formal accountability in addressing wrongs or wrongdoings.
Of course, even that shot at accountability can't happen if the people necessary to a case don't bother to show up. Say, the police.
"Officer Absent/Case Dismissed," a recent investigative series in The Courier-Journal, reported at least 1,000 cases were dismissed in Jefferson District Court in 2007 because Louisville Metro Police officers missed their court appearances.
More than 600 defendants charged with felonies such as drug dealing, robbery, burglary and assault walked because no police showed up for the court date.
Valid reasons for not being there? Goldbricking? Who knows? There's no system for tracking and analyzing the absences, either.
And though the newspaper investigation also revealed at least 300 of the roughly 1,200 LMPD officers had a felony case thrown out of court because they didn't appear, only one officer was disciplined for missing court in 2007.
As bad as all that is, even more troubling are the revelations that this problem has existed for years, and has been acknowledged among stakeholders over the years, and nothing has been done to rectify or improve the situation.
On top of that, principal entities -- police and prosecutors -- in this ongoing failure are more engaged in pointing fingers at each other than fixing things.
And defendants keep walking.
As one police studies professor told reporters Jason Riley and R. G. Dunlop, "It seems like a lax system that sooner or later is going to lead to a disaster."
We don't think this is what city fathers mean by "Possibility City."
Enough.
Other cities have come up with ways to monitor and track police officers' court appearances. We should, too.
Other cities have managed to find the vision, the will and the funds to transform inefficient, archaic and slapdash paper subpoena systems -- such as the one we have now -- to electronic subpoena deliveries. We should, too.
If none of this happens, we need to ask ourselves this question: If police and prosecutors don't respect the system enough to fix it, how can we have any faith in it or them?
Editor's comment: I AGREE, and it is so SAD and inexcusable neglect.
To read more about the series mentioned here, check this out.
Labels: Crime, Justice, Punishment
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 12:27 PM
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