Grant County judges are continuing to develop new approaches to deal with the effects of record-high numbers of cases and the ongoing opioid crisis, according to Circuit Court Judge Mark Spitzer.
Spitzer gave the annual State of the Judiciary address to Grant County Council last month, highlighting the successes, challenges and changes the county bench is continuing to work through.
Even as county judges are working with other officials to renovate the Juvenile Detention Center to house females and juveniles, Spitzer said they are also engaged in a number of programs aimed at reducing overcrowding at the Grant County Jail that on average was over capacity nearly every day in 2019.
Spitzer said one such program is the Evidence Based Decision Making pretrial release program, which is mandated for all Indiana counties in 2020 but was initiated in 11 counties, including Grant County, as a pilot program before this year.
Individuals booked into jail are given a risk assessment to identify those who are safe to release, and then hearings are held each business day with prosecutors, public defenders and pretrial services present to determine whether the individual is eligible for pretrial release, Spitzer said.
Spitzer said 626 individuals booked into the jail were given risk assessments in 2019, with 585 of those receiving pretrial release hearings. Of those who were released, 5 percent of those who screened low risk, 15 percent of those screened moderate risk and 31 percent of those screened as high risk encountered pretrial failures, which is defined as failing to appear at a court date or a new offense, according to Spitzer.
“So we can evaluate people that come into the jail, we can assess them and we can have a pretty good idea of whether or not they’re going to have some success if we release them pretrial,” he said.
The pretrial diversion program is another tool being used to reduce overcrowding, Spitzer said. Low-risk, non-violent offenders who are eligible can complete the requirements of pretrial diversion and avoid court proceedings and a criminal record.
Spitzer said out of 760 assessments made, 12 percent of offenders were eligible for pretrial diversion in 2019 with a total of 78 diversions so far.
“About 62 percent complete successfully, and even those that don’t complete successfully, they just do that for lack of follow through,” he said. “Some people just don’t follow through of what their obligations are.”
Of those that were in the diversion program, only five were arrested on new charges and only two were arrested after successfully completing the diversion program, Spitzer said.
“We consider those pretty promising in terms of our ability to sort the people that are eligible for pretrial diversions and have some confidence that they’re not going to be recidivists,” he said.
As these programs expand, however, case volume has continued to increase for the county’s judges, according to Spitzer. The most recent adjusted weighted caseload in 2018 showed the five county judicial officers are handling the caseload equivalent of 5.62 judges, Spitzer said.
Spitzer said the number of parental termination and Child in Need of Services cases were at record highs in 2019.
“We don’t like to be setting those kind of records,” he said.
The 1,010 felonies filed in 2019 were also a record, Spitzer said, and represented a 32 percent increase since 2015. He noted 712, or approximately 70 percent, of all felonies filed were Level 6 felonies.
“That impacts the jail because Level 6 felonies under most circumstances cannot be sent to the Department of Corrections after you sentence them, and so they must be dealt with locally in some way either in jail or community corrections or on probation,” Spitzer said.
Spitzer said the ongoing opiate and methamphetamine crisis continues to be a large factor in criminal filings. According to the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council (IPAC), four of the top 10 felony filings and five of the top 10 misdemeanor offenses statewide since 2015 have been substance abuse related.
IPAC data states dealing charges statewide are up 197 percent, possession charges are up 88 percent, syringe possession is up 24 percent and possession of paraphernalia is up 34 percent since 2016.
Approximately 50 percent of individuals going through drug court listed stimulants like methamphetamine as their primary drug of choice, with about 30 percent stating opioids, nearly 20 percent stating alcohol and less than 10 percent reporting sedatives or cannabis, according to Spitzer.
Spitzer noted that judicial officers from 20 other counties came to the Grant County Courthouse in 2019 to observe and learn from local judges, and all five judicial officers serve on a number of state and national boards and committees.
“One of the reasons that we do that is we want to have a voice in making policy moving forward with justice, in particular criminal justice. There are a lot of changes that are happening right now in the criminal justice system in terms of policy. Criminal justice reform is a very hot topic as well,” Spitzer said. “And so we need to have a voice to make sure that happens appropriately, that it doesn’t hurt us here in Grant County.”
He said having a seat at the table on committees also helps county judges make connections and learn more about grant opportunities. Grant County courts received a little less than $1.8 million in grant funding in 2019, according to Spitzer.
Looking forward, Spitzer said Grant County’s judiciary will see some changes over this year as longtime Director of Correctional Services Cindy McCoy retires in May and Superior Court 3 Judge Warren Haas retires at the end of the year.
“There’s no question that 2020 and early 2021 we will be a period of transition for us as well,” Spitzer said. “You don’t say goodbye to over 50 years of institutional knowledge and wisdom without having some growing pains I suppose, but that’s what we have to look forward to as well, and so we are prepared to meet those challenges.”
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