Note: Paul Coggins is U.S. Attorney for Northern District of Texas;
Madeleine Johnson is Dallas city attorney.

COMMUNITY COURTS AID NEIGHBORHOODS

One of the biggest breakthroughs in law enforcement in the past decade
has been the blossoming of police-public partnerships through programs
as varied and successful as Crime Watch, Citizens on Patrol, the
Citizen Police Academy and Weed and Seed.

Such programs foster a growing sense that the police are a part of the
community and encourage citizens' cooperation -- the keystone to
effective policing.

The proliferation of police-public partnerships has been a major factor
in the declining crime rates in the United States during the past
decade. But pushing crime rates even lower will require forging
partnerships with new partners.

Missing in the current collaborations are the courts. To most citizens,
the courts remain awesome and mysterious -- an Olympian fortress where
robed figures divine draconian laws, seemingly divorced from the day-to-
day reality of life on the mean streets of a teeming city. Many
citizens view the courts as irrelevant, if not a hindrance, to their
public-spirited efforts.

The community court concept, as pioneered by New York City, is a
healthy effort to make the courts, like the police, a true partner in
community building.

The first step in the promising experiment is to identify "quality of
life" offenses that now go unpunished or too lightly punished. Those
lower-level offenses -- such as prostitution, public intoxication,
underage drinking, vandalism, drug possession of minor amounts and the
like -- chip away at the quality of life in a neighborhood and, over
time, erode the soul of a city. Likewise, habitual offenders of city
codes designed to maintain and upgrade residential and commercial
structures undermine efforts to improve neighborhoods and communities.

Frustrated by the reality that quality-of-life offenders frequently are
recycled through the courts, law-abiding residents stew in cynicism,
convinced the system ignores their stake in the community.

A community court, by administering speedy justice, signals the
citizenry that bad acts carry quick consequences. For example, in the
Manhattan Community Court, offenders often are dealt with in a day or
two of their offenses.

Moreover, the defendants typically are sentenced to some form of
community service that is meant to restore the neighborhood. For
instance, a vandal may be sentenced to remove graffiti, paint fire
hydrants or pick up trash in full view of the police and public. The
idea of restorative justice underlies the community court model.

Just as community courts move cases much more quickly than their
backlogged downtown counterparts, a community court can combine
punishment with treatment. Many of the offenders handled by the
community courts, such as drug addicts and prostitutes, desperately
need treatment to have any hope of leading productive lives. A
community court thus becomes more than simply a place where punishment
is meted out. It becomes a haven for troubled individuals and families
seeking treatment, training and therapy.

A broad coalition in Dallas is exploring the feasibility of
experimenting with the community court concept here. The experiment is
working in New York, Austin and elsewhere, and it can work here.
Judges, police, prosecutors, defense lawyers, politicians, business
leaders and community activists are committed to testing a community
court in Dallas.

We owe it to the police who are frustrated by the quality-of-life
offenders revolving through the courthouse doors. We owe it to
offenders who are frustrated by the lack of treatment programs. And,
most of all, we owe it to citizens whose neighborhoods are threatened
by these corrosive crimes.

Crime rates may be at relatively low levels, but now isn't the time for
timidity. Only by exploring new partnerships and embracing innovations,
such as the community court, can we hope to push crime rates to
historic low levels.

Paul Coggins is the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas.
Madeleine Johnson is the Dallas city attorney.