D.A. Gascón sets neighborhood courts in motion

From SFGate,

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón said Tuesday that he has assigned a prosecutor to establish his neighborhood-courts program at the Mission and Bayview police stations, expressing optimism that the new approach will cut costs and recidivism rates in those communities.

Gascón said he expects the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Prozan, to handle 150 misdemeanor and infraction cases a month at each station.

The idea, Gascón said, is to refer people cited for misdemeanors, including theft, vandalism, trespassing, graffiti and minor drug crimes, to community service programs instead of prosecuting them and putting them on probation or in jail.

Under the program, Prozan will screen such cases looking for first-time offenders, or those no longer on probation or parole. If those eligible agree, they will not be charged but will have a neighborhood court hear their case.

Police officers have already started handing out cards to suspects, urging them to visit the local prosecutor to work out a deal.

"The neighborhood court, expected to meet weekly, could cut costs from $1,500 to prosecute a misdemeanor to about $300 per community-resolved case, Gascón said.

This is an attempt to deal with a broken system," the district attorney said at a news conference.

"We have a system today that, when it comes to low-level offenses, is not serving the community. It's not serving the offenders. ... The offenders are continuing to re-offend."

Gascon noted the current statewide recidivism rate for all crimes is 70 percent, and said his approach would avoid saddling people with criminal records that could hinder their progress.

"One thing we know is the status quo has not worked well," Gascón said.

Read more at SFGate