So Al Sharpton, Andrew Young, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, and Fulton Superior Judge Marvin Arrington walk into a courtroom. . .
There is no punchline. They walked into a courtroom to hold yet another courthouse special event for yet another group of criminal defendants who were having their crimes excused, who then failed to avail themselves of all the special tutoring and counseling and mentoring provided to them in lieu of sentencing, all paid for by us, the taxpayers. What is going on in the courts? Here is the press release from Paul Howard’s office:
On May 22, 2008, the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office joined by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Marvin Arrington unveiled a pilot program designed to clean our streets of rampant, unchecked illegal drug activity. With its innovative programming, this endeavor entitled Project Turn Around . . . [will] provide an opportunity for young drug dealers, with limited criminal histories, a chance to remove themselves from illegal drug activity . . . Project Turn Around is an intensive 12-month program that will provide these young men with drug counseling, G.E.D. classes, job training, family counseling, enrichment courses, life skills training and other social services. . . Fourteen young men, between the ages of 17-25 years old, were officially entered into the program on May 22 with an additional six more program participants enrolling within that same week.
To say that they did not change the landscape of Fulton County is apparently an understatement, according to this comment by a community member who volunteered to mentor the youths assigned to Project Turn Around. In fact, the post by this person, who goes by “Nich,” challenges pretty much everything the D.A. said about the Project. The comment appeared in an interesting Atlanta Journal Constitution discussion about crime:
I joined a group called “Project Turnaround” as a council member. (volunteer PO, basically.) This was a program to help these participants/offenders get back on track monitored by the DA’s office. Most every offender was recommended by the council members to be exempted from the program/put back in jail, for repeat offenses. Nothing was done. My participant, for example, never went to the classes, continued to sell drugs and was shot in during a drug deal gone bad. Why was he not thrown out of the program and into jail? The DA’s office eventually just walked away from the program, but the kicker…NONE, NADA, 0% of the participants were put into jail. They basically were given “get out of jail free cards!” They are roaming the streets worse off today, because they don’t believe they will ever receive consequences. Sadly, all evidence supports that theory.
So the D.A. failed to prosecute — how many? 20 repeat offenders? “Nich” also reports an extremely troubling exchange with another D.A.:
The courts are a very big problem, especially with regard to minors. A lot of the offenders are young. Evidently, there is a 12-step program (you get 12 strikes before you are out) that applies to all minors, per Zone 3 DA. So if a 16 year old boy walks into my home, slays my husband and robs us, is that strike 7?
The public deserves some answers from Paul Howard (not to mention Arrington):
- How many of the 20 enrolled youths failed to complete Project Turn Around?
- How many were then prosecuted for the crimes that brought them to your attention in the first place, as you pledged to do? As is your job, for that matter?
- How many of these youths were arrested for additional crimes while “enrolled” in Project Turn Around?
- How many of those crimes have been prosecuted?
- What were the actual arrest records for the 20 participants prior to their enrollment in Project Turn Around: what constitutes a “limited criminal history”?
- Is it true that your office has a policy of giving minors multiple passes — 2 or 5 or 12 “get out of jail free” cards — before you actually bother to prosecute them?
And don’t forget these easily-overlooked questions:
- Who got paid for this? Where did the money come from?
- Is this failed attempt at rehabilitation going to be evaluated and dutifully entered into the academic literature on the efficacy of alternative sentencing programs, or is the whole mess just going to be swept under the rug?
~~~
It isn’t just the Fulton County D.A. who stands accused of failing to bother to prosecute serious crimes: over at the blog Dekalb Officers, cops and others are weighing in about multiple failures to prosecute violent offenders in DeKalb County, too. The pattern of complaints about Dekalb D.A. Gwen Keyes resembles the complaints about Paul Howard, and both are extremely troubling. Here are just a few:
Thank Gwen for taking years to indict!! When you don’t even get an indictment within a year or two of the crime, what chance does the state have at trial?? Remember, it is the STATE who was to bring in all of the witnesses and evidence. Try finding reports, evidence, and witnesses years after a crime took place. The more time that passes, the easier it is to get a not guilty verdict. Why do you think defense attorneys in DeKalb rarely demand a speedy trial?? It only happens if their client is unable to make bond. If their client is out, they know every day that goes by is to the defense’s advantage. But our DA’s and Judges don’t care. The dirtbag who dumped his baby son in the sewer committed an armed robbery and kidnapping at a business over a year ago. He STILL hasn’t been indicted!! Defense attorneys like to say, “Indictments don’t mean anything. You can get an indictment against a sandwich.” Apparently, not with our DA’s office!! They can’t be bothered to bring violent criminals up for indictment within a reasonable amount of time!
And:
Most cases are pending for years. They usually get NOLLE PROSCESS.
And:
Take a look at the recent arrest in DeKalb County of a worthless coward who killed three people, including a three year old child. The perp has 5 different felony arrests in his past. Some have multiple felony charges. Guess how many indictments he has? ZERO!! Way to go Gwen!! Maybe if you indicted him on ONE or TWO cases, that three year old child might be alive today!
And this comment, which makes the important point that police officers’ lives are particularly endangered when offenders face no consequences in the courts:
Detectives have a good phrase for the D.A. Office and the Judges…..they plead guilty and guess what ……..TIME SERVE AND PROBATION. They get a second chance to steal again or rob you with a gun.
~~~
There are many reasons why programs like Project Turn Around fail. One of them, surely, is the confidence offenders must feel in knowing that they won’t face real consequences if they don’t bother to follow the rules. Every young man who entered that program apparently failed to complete it. Did anything get accomplished, other than reinforcing the participants’ sense of invulnerability?
In the current courtroom culture, any program like Project Turn Around is just one more free ride.
But this particular initiative is even more troubling. It appears to have encouraged offenders to view themselves as victims of the justice system:
During the unveiling of the program, Judge Arrington told the young men, “I want to make sure before I send somebody to jail for an extended period of time that I’ve done everything I can do to make them a better person.” In addition to hearing from the judge, the young men were addressed by the Honorable Andrew Young, former Atlanta mayor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton.
First of all, it’s not Arrington’s job to “make people into better people.” That’s a nice sentiment, one we can all agree with, but Marvin Arrington’s job is to enforce the law.
Second, what, precisely, was Al Sharpton doing there? He has committed anti-Semitic and unapologetically racist acts, and his followers, encouraged by his rhetoric, have burned down businesses, threatened witnesses, rioted, and committed murders. He is anti-cop, and his appearance at the side of Fulton County’s District Attorney sends a disturbing message to every police officer on Atlanta’s streets.
What’s the matter with Howard, in his position, agreeing to associate with the likes of Sharpton?
More mundanely, Al Sharpton has repeatedly demonstrated contempt for the justice system in cases filed against him. After being found guilty of slander and defamatory statements in his false accusations of rape against a Dutchess County prosecutor, Sharpton disgracefully refused to pay the damages the court ordered him to pay. The Federal Elections Commission found that he broke election finance laws — apparently with few consequences for him.
Most recently, he shockingly advocated for the release of four men who raped, sodomized and beat a Haitian immigrant in Miami, forced the woman to perform sex acts on her 12-year old son, and then doused them both with household cleansers and tried to set them on fire.
He went from that performance to Marvin Arrington’s courtroom a few months later, ostensibly to encourage young offenders to become better people. What message did that appearance really send? Something like this:
Don’t worry about following the law, because if you don’t, nothing will happen to you. Look at me: I have no respect for the law and I’m rich and famous and on TV. I hang out with your judge and your prosecutor, who admire me, even though I side with violent rapists and murderers and against the innocent people they torment. You are the victims of an unjust system and deserve to be set free.
Is it any wonder that the young defendants did not bother to take Project Turn Around seriously? No courtroom program featuring Al Sharpton should be taken seriously. Of course everyone wants young offenders to be rehabilitated. But the public deserves safety, and this is just craziness.
Marvin Arrington and Paul Howard are up for re-election in 2010.