It’s time to reexamine county’s criminal justice spending
Lehigh County taxpayers pay dearly for a criminal justice system that has exploded in growth and cost. Controller Mark Pinsley reports that in 2010, 39 cents of every dollar collected in local real estate taxes went to the courts and corrections budget. Excessive enough, right?
Well, less than a decade later, the 2019 budget spent 69 cents of every dollar collected in local real estate taxes on this “criminal justice complex.” The 2021 budget seeks yet more increases, most notably in the district attorney and corrections budgets.
A little background history is instructive. The U.S. jail population rose from 110,099 in 1920 to 332,945 by 1970, consistent with overall population growth. However, by 2020 that number increased 700% to 2.3 million, mostly poor, disproportionately people of color.
Lehigh County fed that growth. In 1989 The Morning Call reported the old prison had broken a record with 400 inmates. A new jail was necessary. Maybe 600 capacity would be sufficient? No, Lehigh County built a jail for 1,352 human beings, almost four times the capacity of the old one. Opened in 1992, it quickly became a case of “build it and they will come.”
And come they did: by 2007 the new jail was home to 1,411 inmates — overcrowded once more.
The jail census is down now to around 600. This raises unavoidable questions for the proposed budget: Why does Corrections Director Janine Donate need a larger budget with the census way down? Moreover, the Community Corrections Center (work release), having usually around 140 inmates, is now down to about 30. The center has a capacity of 400, but is now almost empty. So why all this money? Why not less?
Why is District Attorney Jim Martin in line for an increase, from $5,957,446 in 2015 to $7,156,930 this year? How does Martin reconcile this since the “total cases processed” in 2018 was 5,186, and new criminal cases between 2009 and 2018 remained constant? Why more money for him? Why not less?
With so many people in need, how can we justify increases to a bloated “criminal justice complex” budget?
Commissioner David Harrington has presented amendments that call for a modest transfer of money from the district attorney and corrections — the punitive side of the budget — over to the Office of the Public Defender — the helping side of the budget. Chief Public Defender Kimberly Makoul has initiated “holistic defense” in her office, with one social worker helping persons
to connect with drug treatment, mental health treatment, housing assistance and the like. This should be expanded.
The Bronx Defender website quotes a Harvard Law Review study showing that holistic defense reduces the likelihood of a custodial sentence by 16% and sentence length by 24%. Over the 10-year study period, holistic defense in the Bronx resulted in nearly 1.1 million fewer days of custodial punishment. Taxpayers of New York saved an estimated $165 million dollars.
“Holistic defense” works. It works because it helps people.
Harrington’s amendments would provide one additional social worker, one part-time attorney, and an interpreter to the public defender office. It would also provide a “reentry director” for the jail to help improve reentry services.
With recidivism rates over 50% within three years (combining new offenses and probation/parole violations), as reported by the Lehigh County Criminal Justice Advisory Board, reentry must be revitalized to help citizens avoid the vicious cycle of going in and out of jail repeatedly.
Tennessee established the “75% Rule,” dictating that the public defender’s budget be 75% of the district attorney’s budget, for a level playing field. Lehigh County’s public defender budget now is 39% of the district attorney’s budget.
So many questions need answering. All departments must respond to commissioners who are on record calling for total transparency as this budget is worked out. Each department head must justify why they need all this money.
Harrington’s amendments take a step toward a budget that helps people, instead of caging them.
Hasshan Batts of Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley often says, “A budget is a statement of values.” He’s right; a budget must show compassion and empathy for others, values we all learned in kindergarten.
It’s time to try helping hands, not just handcuffs.
The Lehigh County Board of Commissioners’ meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday will be held via a public virtual Zoom meeting.
Info: https://bit.ly/3ds3Mh8.