U. S. Judicial System

regular courts, but at a cost of sentencing/outcome variation,

even disparity.

Problems with Community Courts…continued

4. Who can go to the Community Court? There are no objective,

substantive legal standards.

5. What appellate options are there for those who are denied

access to this dispute resolution option and are being forced into

the regular judicial system?

6. Can statements made in the Community court be used in a

regular court trial?

This kind of informality opens the door to all kinds of potential for

abuse – bribery, favoritism, racial and Ethnic discrimination. We

tried this once, and it did not work.

Problems with Community Courts…continued

The philosophic assumption behind the use of

Community Courts is that processing people

through the standard judicial system, is a bad

thing. Generally that is true, but it is not always

the case. There are times when regular court

intervention is useful.

Concluding Comments

The court system is not capable of solving any nations’

crime problems. While some proposed reforms can

have a positive impact, they should be viewed as

nothing more than new ways of holding our fingers in

the dike…just buying time. Fundamental changes any

nations’ crime and delinquency problems, require

fundamental changes in that society’s socio-economic

foundations and in its core institutions.