HOMELESS COURT, A WEEK AGO Friday, seemed more like an elementary school graduation than a dose of jurisprudence, complete with a press conference, cheers and snack handouts.
This new monthly court in Santa Monica City Hall promises to give transients charged with minor crimes a chance to straighten out their lives and connect with social services instead of going to jail.
Seven cases were scheduled. The first three defendants didn’t show. Things were off to a bad start.
Four defendants appeared and Judge Bobbi Tillmon dismissed multiple misdemeanor “cases” against each of them because they were already in services and improving themselves. Dangling the carrot, Judge Tillmon told them if they continued in services, stayed clean and returned on March 2, she’d dismiss all citations and wipe their slates clean.
Like children, the four defendants were rewarded with a bottle of water and a small paper sack filled with snacks to the applause of homeless service providers, the city’s human services staff and homeless advocates.“No-shows”were rewarded with arrest warrants and $500 bail judgments. But, when and if they’re arrested again, chances are they won’t be able to pay the fines. The L.A. County Sheriff will not take misdemeanants into county jails, so they’ll skate free, too.
In one fell swoop, all the efforts expended by law enforcement from Santa Monica, West Los Angeles, Culver City, Beverly Hills and other jurisdictions were tossed out, rendering them a total waste of time.
Bottom line: Except for felonies, lawbreaking transients in L.A. County are virtually immune from meaningful prosecution.
During the press conference, Los Angeles County District Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and our own Mayor Richard Bloom patted each other on the back, waxing enthusiastically about how this was going to get homeless individuals back on their feet, again.
“Warm and fuzzy” — I don’t buy it. This is just another program that’s more about public relations than dealing sensibly with a serious social problem
I don’t buy it. This is just another “warm and fuzzy” program that’s more about public relations than dealing sensibly with a serious social problem.
This court is in City Hall to make it easy for transients to appear. Homeless advocates apparently don’t think that maybe one test of recovery is appearing in the LAX Courthouse near the Green Line Station end of a 75-cent Big Blue Bus trip. If defendants can’t make their court date, how on earth do the reformers think they’re going to integrate into society? What’s next, limousine service?
Nobody needs this court to access services. Those wanting help can go to any homeless service provider, cop, outreach team or City Hall and ask for help. Delusional homeless cheerleaders ignore the fact that the majority of vagrants and transients — because of mental illness or other factors — want to be free spirits, left alone to do drugs, drink, panhandle and live on the streets. It’s behavior the “homeless court” can’t and won’t do anything about. Dismissing charges such as stealing shopping carts, camping on public property, trespassing, public intoxication and public urination and defecation actually rewards antisocial behavior.
Politicians say that homeless courts work in many other cities, including New York. Yeah, but in New York and other municipalities, if you don’t keep your pledge to straighten out, there’s a 30-day jail term waiting. Here, there are lots of carrots, but no stick. Here, transients who squander their opportunity will likely never check into the “Graybar” Hotel.
Vagrants know this and so do homeless advocates. Even more amazing is that this is subsidized to the tune of $500,000 annually by a county that’s dealing with an ongoing series of fiscal misadventures and mismanagement, including a hospital system in crisis, a crippled transit infrastructure, housing shortages and a seriously compromised jail system — thanks to years of bad decision-making by county supervisors like Yaroslavsky and his predecessor, Edmund Edelman — now Santa Monica’s $200,000 per annum “Homeless Czar.”
If the rate of cases heard in this first homeless court holds for the year, about 50 people will have gone through this program at a cost of $10,000 each — ignoring recidivism which could apply to a majority of those pardoned. L.A. County, like Santa Monica, has seen a dramatic increase in transients and vagrants thanks to one ineffective, “feel good” fiasco after another.
Another troubling aspect of this is that justice is being administered unequally. I guess in Los Angeles County, if you’re a celebrity and rich, or poor and transient, you get special treatment and benevolent justice from the judicial system. The rest of us get stuck.
After all, when was the last time a special court was convened close to your home and a judge thanked you for showing up, for leading a clean life (after dismissing dozens of cases and citations) and handed you a bag of candy bars?
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 12, 2007. Read the original PDF.