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Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Ind. Courts - "Repeat offenders: Who's responsible?"
Kelli Stopczynski of South Bend WSBT has a long story and video (last updated Nov. 30th) under the heading "Repeat offenders: Who's responsible?" A few quotes:
SOUTH BEND ― The criminal justice system is supposed to fight crime and hold offenders responsible for their actions, but a WSBT investigation uncovered dozens of repeat offenders in St. Joseph County alone who break the law over and over again. We looked into why it happens and who is responsible for keeping criminals off the streets. * * *Critics argue one way to get tougher sentences is by electing judges so they are accountable to the public.
“When we elect the mayor, he or she appoints a police chief ― those are our policeman,” said Dvorak. “We elect a sheriff. The sheriff has responsibility to the jail as well as their road patrol and their detectives. We elect prosecutors, but we don't elect judges. There is a glitch in that system.”
St. Joseph and Lake counties are the only two counties in Indiana that have appointed judges rather than elected judges. During the last legislative session, Dvorak lobbied for a bill that would require judges be elected here. It passed in the House and Senate, but the governor vetoed it.
Chief St. Joseph County judge Michael Scopelitis doesn’t think electing judges is a good idea.
“It hurts the public,” he said, “because instead of getting a judge's best judgment, a judge may be getting too much political pressure to do something that is not, in the judge's opinion, the best thing to do.”
The judges who sentenced Orta for several past convictions wouldn't talk to WSBT on camera. Scopelitis agreed to an interview, but said he ethically could not discuss Orta because he is still awaiting sentencing for the murder conviction.
“We sentence people to prison sentences, and then when they get out they re-offend. I see that as a problem with the entire criminal justice process,” Scopelitis said.
He points to the fact that sentencing criteria are set by state lawmakers ― including the number of years an offender serves in the department of corrections.
“In Indiana, as in almost every state, we have a list of literally over a dozen criteria we have to look at [including] aggravating criteria, mitigating factors. And then we have to pick a sentence within the range,” Scopelitis explained.
Another issue, says Scopelitis, is where to put all the offenders. Last year more than15,000 misdemeanor and 2,000 felony cases went through the St. Joseph County court system.
"What do you do?" Scopelitis asked. "Can we send them all to the DOC? Impossible! Cannot be done."
Some offenses, like Orta's theft conviction, qualify for community corrections or work release programs, not prison time. The state can charge counties money if they send criminals to prison for those crimes.
Scopelitis said he knows some people insist Elkhart County sends more offenders to the DOC than St. Joseph County, but he doubts that's true.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 1, 2009 10:25 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts