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Monday, August 29, 2011

Ind. Courts - "Pretrial diversion: Is it a judicial tool or a revolving door? Prosecutor's office gets much of its funding from fees paid by underage drinkers"

That is the headline to a great story in the Sunday Bloomington Herald-Times ($$$), reported by Laura Lane. (As this story touches on the Lauren Spierer case, it may not be behind the paywall.) Here is how the quite lengthy story begins:

Nearly 40 percent of the money that funds the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office comes from fees paid by offenders, most of them Indiana University students, who consume alcohol in violation of the law.

The Pretrial Diversion Program allows alcohol offenders to pay hundreds of dollars and attend a substance abuse class to keep from getting a criminal conviction. The program, which also serves people charged with misdemeanor crimes such as disorderly conduct and trespass, contributed $835,217 to this year’s budget for the prosecutor’s office. The county general fund included another $1,404,566.

“It’s unsavory to think a prosecutor’s office is forced to operate in large part on money it makes on people they prosecute,” said Bob Miller, chief deputy prosecutor, who was Monroe County’s elected prosecutor from 1987 through 1994. “Yes, it’s alcohol-based.”

Many consider Bloomington a beer-and-liquor-saturated college town. Hordes of students spill out onto the streets after the bars’ 3 a.m. closing time, and more than half of all arrests in Monroe County — 54 percent last year — are rooted in alcohol, drugs or both.

Most often, those charged with alcohol-based crimes such as illegal consumption and public intoxication qualify for PDP, provided they have no prior convictions. First-timers whose blood-alcohol content is below .14 pay $404 for court costs and enrollment in a 7-hour drug-and-alcohol education class.

In exchange, the state dismisses the offense and the person’s criminal record is cleared if he or she stays out of trouble for one year.

Just like that.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 29, 2011 09:43 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts