12.03.09 Circuit Court looks to offer services to non-violent offenders
By John Flynn Rooney
Law Bulletin staff writer
Cook County court and court-related officials have agreed upon a concept to provide drug rehabilitation and other services for non-violent offenders arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges, according to Chief Cook County Circuit Court Judge Timothy C. Evans and others.
Evans, representatives from the offices of Cook County's state's attorney, public defender and sheriff, along with officials from the Chicago Council of Lawyers and the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice have met twice since October. The most recent meeting took place in mid-November.
The meetings followed a proposal offered in September by the Council of Lawyers and the Chicago Appleseed Fund to restructure the Cook County Circuit Court's Criminal Division.
"The concepts we agree on, I think, are designed to identify arrestees who have a history of non-violent criminal activity, who are in need of drug rehabilitation, mental health and other non-traditional services that might be helpful for them to cut down on the recidivism that they are a part of," Evans said Wednesday in a telephone interview.
The concepts are intended "to make the community safer, to help rehabilitate [non-violent offenders] and save money for the taxpayers, who have to, of course, pay for these people when they have to be incarcerated," he added.
On Thursday, Malcolm C. Rich, executive director of the Council of Lawyers and the Chicago Appleseed Fund, said: "We have a conceptual agreement on the restructuring proposal among all the major stakeholders. We are now doing the necessary work to be able to launch these efforts."
Daniel T. Coyne, immediate past president of the Council of Lawyers and current co-chair of its Criminal Justice Committee, called the concepts fairly innovative.
"We are talking about bringing the misdemeanor courts into the criminal division," Coyne, a clinical professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, said Thursday in a telephone interview.
"The reason that's so important is that currently you have a better opportunity at receiving needed services if you are arrested and charged with a felony, and all the research indicates that early intervention is oftentimes more beneficial than later intervention."
Non-violent offenders who could receive services include those accused of theft, prostitution, drug-related charges, various types of trespassing, disorderly conduct and matters involving mental health, Rich said.
"Our proposal acknowledges the fact that the criminal justice system in Cook County needs to be restructured because that system has become the de facto community mental health and drug treatment program," he said.
The restructuring proposal offered by the council and fund suggests creating a court section within the criminal division where courtrooms would be "dedicated to providing needed services and will be staffed so that the services can be provided in a fair, effective and efficient way," Rich said.
He said the restructuring proposal includes a deferral approach, in which a person can be provided services directly after an arrest, provided that prosecutors agree to the deferral.
Coyne said: "It's important because that arrestee doesn't directly go into the court system. They go directly from arrest into a service program."
Jeffrey M. Howard, chief of operations for the Cook County public defender's office, attended the most recent meeting.
"For many clients that we represent diversion is the appropriate way to handle them, rather than incarceration," he said Thursday. "We look forward to exploring ways to implement diversionary programs for appropriate individuals."
The restructuring proposal came nearly two years after the council and Chicago Appleseed Fund issued a "Report on Chicago's Felony Courts."
The council and the Chicago Appleseed Fund are working on drafting proposed legislation that would modify Illinois' expungement law, Coyne said.
"That's so that people who have minimal contact with the justice system are able to secure future employment," he said.
Evans, representatives of the various offices and council and fund officials are set to meet again by mid-January 2010, Rich said. At the meeting, an inventory of available diversion and deferral programs that could be used in the Cook County court system will be provided, he added.
"At the next meeting, we will present a strategic plan describing how we will inaugurate and maintain these approaches," Rich said.
Evans said: "We're making excellent progress as we move forward. I fully expect that our goals can be accomplished as we continue to work together for fairness and justice in our system."