San Francisco Chronicle: Innovative Tenderloin court has fans, skeptics

[marmar]

Innovative Tenderloin court has fans, skeptics
Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, November 30, 2009


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A pot of orchids sits on the judge's wooden dais. A courtroom staffer passes around bowls of candy, snatched up with equal glee by lawyers in dark suits and defendants in soiled clothes.

The judge heaps kindness on the defendants, complimenting one woman on her smile and allowing a man who's not feeling well to return another day. Some who particularly please Superior Court Judge Ron Albers with their progress receive $10 Safeway gift cards. Perhaps it's no wonder, then, that San Francisco's controversial Community Justice Center - the Tenderloin court created to prosecute low-level crimes that blight the neighborhood - has now sprung to life.

It opened in March at a cost of $2.7 million. Few defendants showed up and most cases were dismissed, prompting some city officials to call it a pricey waste of time.

But on a recent afternoon, 115 defendants filled the standing-room-only court, and 76 percent of defendants are now appearing for their assigned court dates. Albers says that in traditional courtrooms, 20 percent of defendants picked up for committing low-level crimes appear in court.

A unique approach

But the Community Justice Center is anything but traditional. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/30/MN0S1APRDQ.DTL

[MineralMan]

1. Now that just ain't 'merkin.

We need hanging judges, not judges handing stuff out. :sarcasm: