Opposing view: Diversionary programs unclog the courts

Proving the old adage that no good deed goes unpunished, the USA TODAY Editorial Board eschews the notion that prosecutors’ offices should partner with private companies to offer diversionary programs to those who provably commit the crime of passing a bad check.

You must know by now that prosecutors routinely lock up low-level drug offenders, are responsible for mass incarceration, and have systemically incarcerated those who removed labels from the bottoms of mattresses. So naturally, when programs were developed to unclog the court system by enlisting private companies to deal with the crime of bad check writing, prosecutors are faulted for not making clear that these annoying letters (Hey! How ’bout paying up!) come from private companies and not The Man.

Next time I get an audit letter from the Pretty Please Pay Up Company and not the IRS, I may have to seek counseling for the trauma.

I mean, after all, why should prosecutors spend precious resources on gang violence, opioid addiction and school safety when we can pursue cases that really matter, such as dropping phony paper for a sumptuous dinner at a restaurant and stiffing on the tip!

My office has used Bounceback, an established company that partners with us to handle bad-check cases, for almost 15 years, recouped hundreds of thousands of dollars for hardworking merchants, kept thousands of people from being arrested, saved the court system a lot of time and money, made sure not one indigent offender has been penalized because of an inability to pay, and received only one complaint.

At least until USA TODAY called. I can’t wait to arrest the next reporter who writes a bad check!

William J. Fitzpatrick is the Onondaga County District Attorney in Syracuse, N.Y.