OFFENDERS, KEEP OUT

Jones Would Use Civil Injunctions To Clean Up Streets

To this point, mayoral candidates Danny Jones and Chris Smith have played
it fairly straight in their respective pitches to Charleston voters.

Both talk of improving basic services, such as garbage pickup. Each touts
his experience. Jones' ads are on television now, with Smith surely to follow.

The Republican Jones has thrown a bit of a curve into the mix, however,
with his proposal that the city bar habitual criminal offenders from
certain areas of the city, through the use of civil injunctions.

A civil injunction is a lawsuit - not a criminal charge - pressed against
those charged with crimes such as prostitution, drug sales, graffiti
painting and gang activity.

City attorneys would take confidential depositions from police officers or
residents, then file either a lawsuit or ask for a temporary restraining
order from a judge. That order would bar the person from entering the area
until resolution of the lawsuit.

The attorney may immediately file a lawsuit, leading to either a civil
trial or a default judgment if the defendant does not show for a hearing.

A default judgment, or the city winning the lawsuit through trial, would
effectively bar the defendant from entering those areas of the city.

The city would win the lawsuit if it could prove by a preponderance of
evidence that the defendant committed the offense. Criminal charges require
more proof.

If the city wins the lawsuit and the defendant defies the order, he could
be subject to fines or jail time.

The same measure has been used in San Diego, San Antonio and West Chicago,
Ill., with some measure of success. Gang violence has been the focus in
those places.

"This is a tool," Jones says. "It's not the end-all. I'm obviously thinking
outside the box, but why not try different things?"

In Charleston, drug sales and prostitution are concerns in some sections of
the West Side and East End. Graffiti artists, meanwhile, have experienced a
creative flourish in the last 18 months or so, plastering graffiti in
several areas.

Civil injunctions used to combat criminal activity would save the city from
hiring a court-appointed defense attorney, Jones says on his Web site.
Defendants would supply their own lawyers.

Some defense attorneys disagree with criminal charges being treated as
civil matters. Other civil liberty concerns remain, says Jason Huber, a
Charleston lawyer who often represents liberal causes.

At first glance, Huber says, Jones' intentions appear good.

"The concern is that you have to carefully desire to use creative measures
against an individual's constitutional, fundamental right to associate with
other people," Huber said.

Innocent people might be mistakenly hauled into court for simply
associating with those identified in the injunction, said Huber, who added
that the defendant eventually deserves the right to know the source of the
evidence against him, whether the proceeding is civil or criminal.

Charleston Police Chief Jerry Pauley said he is fairly unfamiliar with
civil injunctions but Mayor Jay Goldman, a former city judge, used
something similar during his 24-year tenure.

Goldman, Pauley said, sometimes suspended a sentence and granted probation
if that person agreed to stay out of the area. It usually worked, Pauley
said, at least during the time prescribed.

"It's just something we'd have to take a look at," Pauley said of the
injunction idea.

Jones said he would advocate judicious use of the process.

"It should not be used against one person on a street corner but mainly
against rampant criminal activity that goes on in a neighborhood," he said.

Smith, responding by e-mail, said his research indicates that injunctions
are a moderate crime deterrent and most effective at reducing assaults.

"In my opinion," Smith wrote, "civil injunctions would not be nearly as
effective in Charleston as bicycle patrols and foot patrols, especially if
these patrols are conducted throughout the year. The use of high-intensity
lighting would also be effective."

Jones said he had no problem with bike and foot patrols.

"It's not an either/or."