A courtroom overflowing with probation violators
I sat in on some of today's court session for probation violators.
Unbelievable.
Courtroom 4C, which probably seats close to 300 people, wasn't big enough to hold them.
Figuring out who was there and who wasn't occupied the first hour of the scheduled session.
Next up was determining who was indigent and should get an attorney from the Public Defender's Office. Those people were given a rescheduled court date a couple of months from now.
More time and expense for the system.
And remember, these are all people who already have been found guilty of crimes and were put on probation. Now they're back in court allegedly for not complying with the terms of their probation.
Attorney and state Sen.-elect Don Vaughan was over there representing some clients.
This is broken, he said.
"I guess I've got my marching orders," he added.
Yes, the legislature needs to help fix a probation system that doesn't seem to be working. At least Vaughan understands the problems.
Comments (6)
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A courtroom overflowing with probation violators
I sat in on some of today's court session for probation violators.
Unbelievable.
Courtroom 4C, which probably seats close to 300 people, wasn't big enough to hold them.
Figuring out who was there and who wasn't occupied the first hour of the scheduled session.* Doug
For a minute, One would think you are writing about any local traffic court in this State.
Posted on January 5, 2009 5:23 PM
Perhaps we should look at the underlying system as a whole as to whether it is relevant to todays society. The entire judicial and enforcement system as a whole is broken.
90% of prison population is non violent drug offenders.
1 in 10 people is in jail.
Ask yourself if there are billions in funding of new projects for prison and policing systems, is it in their best interest to see more people in jail or less?
We need to remember what the founders meant, in our constitution. It was clearly intended to be used to keep government or other individuals from interfering with anothers personal liberty.
We had better wake up and stand together before it all comes crumbling apart.
http://triadfreedom.blogspot.com
Posted on January 5, 2009 11:01 PM
Interesting way to spend time. Cheaper than a movie.
I like to see this number 90% of the people in jail for non violent drug charges, backed up with some facts. Most I have seen, some drug head breaks into someone house, to support their drug habit, get probation. Not jail!
Posted on January 6, 2009 1:08 AM
triadfreedom,
Thanks for joining the discussion, but ...
I don't believe that anywhere close to 90 percent of inmates are there for nonviolent drug offenses or that one of 10 persons is in jail.
That would be 900,000 people in North Carolina. The state prison population actually is about 40,000.
http://www.doc.state.nc.us/
There are perhaps an equal number in county jails.
I'd like to see sources for your info.
Posted on January 6, 2009 10:30 AM
I don't believe that anywhere close to 90 percent of inmates are there for nonviolent drug offenses or that one of 10 persons is in jail.* Doug
According to the Federal Department of Justice, their last study show about 68% were non-violent offenders in State and Federal dentention centers on drug offenses.
Also, over 65% of the inmates in the State and Federal prison system are Black or minority....
The USA leads with the most prisoners locked up by any other country on the Planet.......Russia is a low 2 nd as compare to the USA.....
" The degree of civilization can be judged by observing it's prisoners" * Dostoyevsky.....after doing a little time in the Russian Imperial prison system
Posted on January 6, 2009 1:16 PM
Here's a link to the Greensboro crime stats for 2008 (only through September, unfortunately):
http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/departments/Police/Statistics/
It lists 12,806 offenses, OTHER THAN nonviolent drug offenses.
The incarceration rates for other countries really don't concern me. The suggestion that most of our crime is harmless drug possession doesn't register with what we see around us every day -- armed robberies, home invasions, shootings, rapes and more. Sad to say, there is a huge amount of serious crime in this city and across the country. The criminal-justice system is overwhelmed by the volume of it and the public expects protection. Prison is far from the ideal solution, but giving offenders and second, third and fourth chance unfortunately just seems to lead where we are in Guilford County this week -- a court session for hundreds of probation violators.
Posted on January 6, 2009 1:39 PM