With murders rising and crime surging in various areas of Atlanta, especially the Buckhead business section, citizens activists are demanding that judges and prosecutors come up with new ways to fight crime.
Amber Connor and Taryn Bowman, who have organized a Facebook page that sends out Atlanta crime updates and fosters discussion among its 5,000 members, say that one solution is to address how judges in the Atlanta Magistrate Court and Fulton County Superior, Juvenile and State courts handle their caseloads. The duo and their fellow activists seek to especially focus on suspects accused of committing violent crimes or having records that include violent offenses.
According to the Atlanta Police Department’s statistics through Feb. 2, citywide, Part 1 offenses, which includes violent offenses such as rape and murder, crime is up 4 percent compared to one year earlier. During that period murders increased 43 percent, burglaries 10 percent and auto thefts 14 percent.
In Buckhead, Part 1 offenses have risen 8 percent compared to Feb. 2, 2018. During that time frame, rapes rose 400 percent, aggravated assaults 50 percent and larceny from automobiles 22 percent.
On the Facebook page Connor said she hopes some minor changes to the city/county justice system, mainly by having the Magistrate Court judges handle the non-complex, or non-violent, cases and the Superior Court judges take on the complex, or violent, cases, as they were designed to, could bring major change.
“We have some people who get out on signature bonds,” Connor said of bonds that require just a suspect’s autograph and no payment. “That’s why I started to dig, to find out why that happened, and there’s a couple of small changes that would help.
The group is also requesting some offenses, such as entering an automobile to steal items (including “slider” crimes) be upgraded from non-complex to complex.
Another way the activists want to address rising crime is through formation of a Fulton County judicial accountability task force that is being organized by Bowman.
Mary Norwood, head of the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods and a former Atlanta mayoral candidate, calls the task force an “adopt-a-judge” program. The volunteer task force will monitor judges in the various court systems. Residents can sign up by visiting http://bit.ly/2DDU5ui.
“We want each person to pick a judge,” Bowman said. “(One scenario for the volunteer is) these three (suspects) were caught today. What (is the judge) going to do? Will they get a slap on the wrist or get put back in jail? We want to get to know that judge and even go introduce yourselves to that judge.
“Ask them, ‘What do you like and what do you not like?’ See how we can help them put the pieces together. How can we fight to give them the tools they need?”
All of the Fulton Superior Court judges have been mum on the “adopt-a-judge” watchdog approach, except one.
Judge Craig Schwall has no problem with judges being scrutinized in their courtrooms. “Judges are all public servants who are elected by the public and must answer to the public,” he says. “The public has a right to monitor a judge’s handling of his or her cases. That is the public’s prerogative. My caseload is an open book. I understand why people are upset. There are two kinds of criminals: those we’re mad at and those we’re afraid of. If your car is stolen out of your garage at 2 a.m., and your neighbor’s house is broken into with men who have guns and come into their bedrooms or their children’s bedrooms, who would you want to be prosecuted first?
“We have to be mindful as judges to do justice for all equally first, and our second job is to protect society,” he continues. “I’m very mindful of the people upset about cars and homes being broken into and items being stolen. I do not believe the problem is the Fulton County Superior Court or State Court bench.”
“I think there has to be a delicate balance because all people who are prosecuted are presumed innocent under our constitution. Pretrial detention is oppressive and should be used carefully and not considered lightly,” Schwall told this writer.
