In what can only be described as both a stroke of genius and a "duh, no kidding" action, Dallas municipal judge Jay Robinson has suggested the city provide a 24-hour court to handle people charged with offenses that carry at most a fine, as opposed to the present apparently chaotic policy of requiring a court appearance that sometimes results in overnight stays in the county jail for an offense that doesn’t even allow a jail sentence.
The idea, outlined in a DMN story, could even save the city about $1 million a year, if enacted.
But the most important thing here is that we’re apparently jailing people because the city court infrastructure has become too bogged down or too inept to process people fast enough to keep some of them out of jail, even when they don’t deserve to be there.
Judge Robinson likens the current system to a "debtor’s prison" and says his idea will process people more quickly while relying at times on a judge available by video. That part of the idea sounds a little questionable, since I’d like the opportunity to look a judge in the eye (as opposed to the camera eye) before being judged or sentenced. But it would sure beat looking some jail guard in the eye a couple of days if I’m picked up on a warrant for a few Class C misdemeanor offenses.
Good idea, Judge Robinson. Let’s hope the city can pry a bit of money loose from the Trinity River project or the big new taxpayer-subsidized convention center hotel to make this thing happen — even if it doesn’t save any money. I don’t like the idea of helping fund, through taxpayer dollars, anything even remotely smacks of being a debtor’s prison.
