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| Smart changes make criminal justice system more efficient |
| By aberdeennews.com |
| Published: 04/10/2013 |
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Overcrowding in South Dakota jails is an ongoing problem. Brown County is doing something about it. We were heartened to hear from state's attorney Larry Lovrien and Judge Mark Anderson about the things they are doing to help keep the Brown County Jail from overcrowding. There is now an efficiency to the criminal justice process that was sorely needed. Lovrien is doing a few things: Shorter jail terms for offenders who aren't a threat to the community, such as 27-day sentences rather than 30 days. Those few days add up to a lot of free space at the jail, but the change in punishment is negligible. Moving cases through the system at a quicker pace. This was a common complaint under previous state's attorneys. Setting bonds in many instances. Anderson, who handles magistrate court cases, is not sentencing as many first-time offenders to one day in jail, and he's cutting back on the number of days in jail a first-time misdemeanor marijuana offender gets. This is no magic formula, but it accomplishes a few things, such as being punitive without being overkill and being more fair to those going through the system. It's better for cases to move to resolution quickly and to take into account a first-time offender's likelihood of becoming a recurring customer to the courts. Read More. |
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