{"id":447,"date":"2018-12-18T16:15:45","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T22:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/price-of-prison\/?p=447"},"modified":"2018-12-19T16:03:01","modified_gmt":"2018-12-19T22:03:01","slug":"how-john-creuzot-plans-to-reform-dallas-county-criminal-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/price-of-prison\/2018\/12\/18\/how-john-creuzot-plans-to-reform-dallas-county-criminal-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"How John Creuzot Plans to Reform Criminal Justice In Dallas County"},"content":{"rendered":"

When John Creuzot takes office in January as Dallas County district attorney, he promises to usher in a new era of prosecution.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for real criminal justice reform in Dallas County and we\u2019re going to deliver,\u201d he proclaimed to an enthusiastic crowd of Democrats gathered on election night. Creuzot won 60 percent of the vote, beating out Republican incumbent Faith Johnson.<\/p>\n

Standing on the stage at the Hilton Regency ballroom, Creuzot laid out an expansive agenda, pledging to decline prosecution for first-time marijuana possession, to pursue drug treatment for drug offenders instead of sending them to prison, to refuse to revoke probation for technical violations, to bulk up a conviction integrity unit to make sure wrongfully convicted people don\u2019t stay in prison, and to fight for bail reform.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow about an end to the excuses?\u201d he bellowed to cheering supporters. \u201cHow about making sure that if you\u2019re poor you don\u2019t get ripped off by the criminal justice system?\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Homeless people are “generally the ones who are taken to jail, but they’re also the ones who are in greater need of services,\u201d Creuzot says. (Photo: Allison V. Smith)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This kind of speechifying doesn\u2019t always seem to come naturally to Creuzot, a criminal justice wonk who says his policy reforms will be based in rigorous data gathering and a careful study of best practices.<\/p>\n

More typically, Creuzot delivers withering analyses of the criminal justice system\u2019s flaws and excesses in a straightforward way. It takes a moment to sink in that, this time, he sounds more like an activist than someone who\u2019ll be the top law enforcement officer of Texas\u2019 second-largest county.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I mean, historically, if you\u2019re poor you\u2019re more likely to go to the penitentiary,\u201d he says simply, adding that little has changed.<\/p>\n

Poor people and people of color are more likely to be arrested, to get charged more severely, get offered less-lenient plea deals and get longer jail and prison sentences; just look at the data, he says.<\/p>\n

Tackling drug sentences<\/h5>\n

 
\nCreuzot, a one-time prosecutor and current-day defense attorney, made a name for himself as a judge by launching Dallas County\u2019s first drug court<\/a> back in 1998, offering drug abusers addiction treatment in lieu of incarceration. It was effective, he\u2019ll tell you: a 68 percent reduction in re-arrests and $9.43 in criminal justice cost savings for every dollar spent on the drug court.<\/p>\n

Today, resources in the district attorney\u2019s office are too-often spent on small-time and non-violent offenses tied to larger issues like poverty, addiction and mental illness \u2014 resources, he says, that should be freed up to focus on prosecuting violent, hardened criminals.<\/p>\n

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Drugs and incarceration<\/h5>\n

 
\nSentencing policies during the War on Drugs<\/a> era led to a steep growth in imprisonment for drug offenses. The number of Americans incarcerated for drugs has increased from 40,900 in 1980 to 450,345 in 2016. Also, sentencing laws like mandatory minimums<\/a> keep many people convicted of drug offenses in prison for longer periods.<\/p>\n

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