No More Prosecuting Petty Crimes: Does the Dallas County DA’s Plan for Justice Reform Go Too Far?

We’d be the first to say that the criminal justice system in this county, this state and country is in need of serious reform. Too often, people of color and poor defendants are unfairly penalized and trapped in dire situations from which they have difficulty ever recovering.So we understand Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot’s aggressiveness in wanting to enact sweeping policy changes for his prosecutors on how they handle bail, probation and low-level crimes.The county has long needed a better way to assess the risk that a defendant will flee, for example, and a fairer way to assign bail that factors in the ability to pay. The current bail system has been ruled unconstitutional so we applaud Creuzot’s efforts to curb the excessive amounts.And we understand why he plans on spending the majority of his office’s resources on the most serious crimes in our community.But as we work toward improvements, we are apprehensive about Creuzot’s plan to decriminalize low-level crimes. It has the potential to send the wrong message about our tolerance for any crime in this county. We worry about the new policy creating a system that tells petty criminals their bad acts are OK and that demands police officers look the other way.And we can’t lose sight of the thousands of real victims of these crimes for which their experiences erode their feelings of safety — real or perceived — in their neighborhoods.  Continue reading...