SMART ON CRIME

It’s not enough to be tough on crime. The moral and economic reality is that the Criminal Justice System must at the same time be smart on crime. In deciding what punishment to seek from juries and judges, my prosecutors and I look at several factors as we try to resolve our criminal cases.

First and foremost, we must take into consideration the nature of the crime. Is it a first degree crime of violence to a person or a lesser degree crime of nonviolence to property? The effect of the crime on the victim’s life is important. The prior criminal record if any of the defendant plays a big role in how we deal with the crime. The amount of evidence which we have in a case is also very important. In resolving a case, evidence of the intent of the defendant, his background, character and whether he assisted the police in solving the crime also play a role.

Protecting both our county and the individual victim, and changing the criminal behavior of the defendant, are goals of my office. Sometimes, a lengthy prison or jail sentence will best protect society. At times, the factors previously mentioned indicate that changing the behavior of a criminal may be the best way to protect society and the crime victim. Fort Bend County’s Criminal Justice System has designed several specialized programs to try and change the behavior of criminals. Most were developed by our county’s Judges, with substantial input from my office. All are conducted with participation from my prosecutorial staff.

A number of people charged with possession of drugs are diverted into the felony or misdemeanor drug court programs. These people are generally first time non-violent offenders who, through a screening process operated by the Fort Bend County Community Supervision and Corrections Department (Adult Probation Department), have indicated a willingness to modify their lives and put their drug habit behind them. Frequent contact with a supervising judge, the probation department, and drug counselors, as well as encouragement from their peers, have made these drug court participants quite successful at eliminating their drug dependency.

A program which is similar to the felony and misdemeanor drug courts has been developed to address the issues of some defendants arrested for driving while intoxicated. Again, the probation department screens mostly first time DWI offenders and upon court order, places in the DWI court those most in need of the intense scrutiny of the judge, probation department, alcohol counselors, defense attorneys, prosecutors, and peers. As part of the program, the participants are convicted of DWI, yet realize that it is a small price to pay as they work towards developing alcohol free lives. As with the drug courts, recidivism is very low for the DWI Court participants.

Another example of my office’s orientation towards being smart on crime is our encouragement of and participation in our county’s felony and misdemeanor mental health court programs. Along with mental health counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, the probation department, and the defense bar, my office has worked diligently with the two judges who initiated these mental health courts. These court partners work at identifying law breakers who are arrested and who exhibit signs of a mental health disorder. These partners realize that a large number of citizens with mental health disorders who commit crimes do so while off their medication. Many of these mentally ill defendants who have committed non-violent crimes will benefit from an intensely supervised sentence of probation, including the strict monitoring of the taking of medication. Such a program is designed to stop the all too often seen revolving door of a person going off their medication, committing a crime, being jailed, bonding out, going off their medication, committing a crime, …

I believe that these specialized courts have merit in addressing some of the issues under which many crimes are committed. By addressing these problems with the multi-disciplined team approach, we hope to be proactive in reducing the number of people who are crime victims and crime perpetrators; each group effected by drug and alcohol abuse and poorly treated mental illness.