Youngstown Municipal Court greases its wheels for more efficient service

The wheels of justice have long been notorious for moving remarkably slowly throughout the American criminal justice system, regardless of whether they ride on local, state or federal tracks.

Consider, for example, that Danny Lee Hill of Warren was found guilty of the brutal murder of young Raymond Fife and sentenced to death in January 1986. Now, 33 years later, Hill still lives on Death Row, making a mockery of that sentence and the process that produced it.

Elsewhere, maneuvering through the often complex and sometimes convoluted prism of today’s judicial hierarchy can be an exercise in frustrating and time-consuming exhaustion.

Fortunately one local court system in the Mahoning Valley has begun the process of greasing those squeaky wheels to save time and likely dollars in the process.

As veteran Vindicator Reporter Joe Gorman presented in a Page 1 story in The Vindicator earlier this week, the Youngstown Municipal Court is welcoming in the new year by launching a new pretrial diversion program for nonviolent offenders.

The program is being spearheaded by Municipal Court Judge Carla Baldwin and David Magura, chief of the city court’s Probation Department.

We congratulate them on their initiative to incorporate cogent recommendations from the Ohio Supreme Court to produce greater efficiency to operations at the municipal court, now housed in its larger and more fitting quarters in the former U.S. Post Office at Market and Front streets downtown.

ABOUT PRETRIAL DIVERSION

In the pretrial diversion program, for which successful dry runs were completed late last year by Judge Baldwin and Magura, defendants before the court for drug charges or other nonviolent offenses are screened for eligibility.

Workers at the Mahoning County Justice Center ask a series of questions to the defendants before their first court apperance based on recommendation from the state’s high court. The questions are designed to determine whether the defendant needs treatment for addiction, mental-health services, other specialized help and whether they would pose any threat to the community while on supervised probation instead of in jail.

Results of that screening are then included in a report sent to the judge or magistrate who arraigns the defendant. They then can use it as a guide in their decisions on bond amounts and, more importantly, on their potential success in a suitable diversion program.

Clearly, this early intervention allows eligible defendants to get immediate help for the problem, such as drug abuse, that may have triggered the crime for which they’ve been charged.

Too often, as Baldwin and others point out, waiting for trial can take weeks or months, thereby unduly delaying the treatment the defendant may so desperately need.

But the benefits of such pretrial mediation transcend those targeted only toward the accused.

Clearly the courts benefit by inviting earlier and more responsible disposition of cases. A study by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2016 found the federal courts stand to save about $26 million annually in lowered incarceration costs resulting from successful pretrial diversion programs.

REDUCING RECIDIVISM, JAIL CROWDING

Pretrial diversion also is known to reduce rates of recidivism and stands as one realistic solution toward lowering this nation’s overcrowded prison population, the bureau reported.

We’re indeed pleased that Judge Baldwin and Magura are bringing many of those benefits to the city court.

Their work continues a tradition of efforts to increase efficiencies and speed inside the Youngstown Courthouse.

Five years ago, the court was forced to do more with less. State legislation reduced the number of judges there from three, a staple there since 1929, to two.

The caseload, however, remained stable and rather daunting. The court handles about 10,000 cases yearly from traffic citations to civil cases to misdemeanor crimes to some felonies. New case filings have been rising there in each of the past three years, according to the municipal court’s annual report.

As such, the need for greater efficiency for court operations, for defendants and for the taxpayers who foot the court’s bills will become all the more imperative.

Judge Baldwin and Magura’s pretrial diversion program demonstrates the court is on the right track toward those ends.