por Marvin Ramírez
The new District Attorney de S.F. George Gascón (standing), Sup. Scott Wiener, an assistant District Attorney and Supervisor David Campos at the Community Court event. (PHOTO BY MARVIN RAMIREZ)
At a community gathering at Centro Latino of San Francisco, the District Attorney’s Office launched the Community Court Initiative, a pilot project that will try minor-criminal cases outside the traditional court system. Originally, according to news reports, the project is a U.S Justice Department pilot project initiated in November of 1998.
Mayor Gavin Newsom brought a fresher idea about the program during a trip to the Big Apple and copied it for San Francisco starting it in the Tenderloin District. This was back in 2005, but actually started running in 2007, according to records.
The new City District Attorney George Gascón has re-launched it and expanded it to operate in the Mission and the Bayview/ Hunter’s Points Districts San Francisco, as in the past it was first used to prosecute crimes committed in the Tenderloin and South of Market neiborhoods. A neighborhood-based mini-court set up, the project is staffed by volunteers and designed to handle misdemeanor offenses. In the last fi ve years, the San Francisco model has become an outstanding example of how a Restorative Justice program can reduce crime in inner-urban areas, according to the D.A.’s offi ce. The program was established as a collaborative of city departments, neighborhood residents and merchant associations. Starting with two courts, there are now eleven courts in 10 of the 11 San Francisco districts.
As the D.A.’s office describes it, the plan is to discourage criminal violation that impact our City’s neighborhood by helping heal victims, the community and the offenders.
Community courts order offenders to pay restitution to victims when there have been monetary loses o property damage, so creating an atmosphere of inclusion and responsibility in the part of the accused. It also orders those with addictions and anger problems to rehabilitation.
Each community court establishes a fund of their own through fi nes from various misdemeanor offenses. Once the fi nes accumulate in each separate account, the Mayor’s Offi ce of Criminal Justice issues an RFT (Request for Proposal) Request, usually three times a year. Any non-profit organization in any of the communities can apply to do neighborhood improvements and other activities that fi t the criteria of the RFP.
San Francisco’s Community Courts are organized and staffed by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and CaCDS. The program has drawn increasing collaborative support from The Superior Court, San Francisco’s Mayor’s Offi ce, Board of Supervisors, The Public Defenders Offi ce, the San Francisco Police Department and San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Inc.
