Wilmington City Council passed a resolution in 2013 to urge the General Assembly to support the creation of a community court. And Monday, City Councilman Darius Brown said the moment is now to push the Judiciary branch, in particular Chief Justice Leo Strine, to take up the issue.
He said that community courts help discourage recidivism and encourage community safety and wellbeing.
"Community courts have the goal of solving the problems of the defendants appearing before the courts, while using the leverage of the courts to encourage the offenders to give back to their community," said Councilman Brown.
The proposed court would adjudicate the city’s nonviolent offenders. Community courts in other cities, like Newark, New Jersey and New York City, primarily address crimes like petty theft, vandalism, loitering and prostitution.
Jaehn Dennis, the President of the Neighborhood Planning Council for Wilmington’s 3rd District, said that sending low level offenders to jail doesn’t always get at the root cause of their criminality - like mental illness.
"What is the use of locking somebody up and giving them thirty days or a couple years, and then don’t treat them for the illness or the problems that they had, and then release them back on the street to re-offend?" said Dennis.
Mark Hitch, from the Delaware Justice of the Peace Courts, said the Judiciary is reviewing all problem-solving courts right now to make sure they are operating efficiently and not “duplicating resources, from court to court.”
