The new elected Dallas Country District Attorney, Democrat John Creuzot shared about his plan on how running his office. His plan for the new system of criminal justice system including drug court, simple case for trespassing and bail system.
New System for Drug Case
Creuzot who had many experiences of the drug courts and established one of the first drug courts in Texas evaluated on how to prosecute the drug offenders. He claimed that putting first-time offenders with less than 4 ounces of marijuana possession in prison will not effective and will not solve a crime. Therefore, instead of locking them up in jail, he stated that the drug treatment approach will be a better solution for these first-time offenders.
Simple Trespassing Case
Creuzot also mentioned that a simple trespassing case that occurred could happen because of several reasons including poverty, substance misuse and mental health issue. Instead of arresting homeless, Creuzot offers a better solution which is relocating them into other places. However, this approach will not be applicable to residential trespassing cases.
Not Judging the Poor
In Creuzot’s campaign website, he stated that Justice is hard and heart work which means justice reform needs to be done in order to have a fairer, more rehabilitative and clearer system. He also mentioned that there was a tendency of a criminal justice system to penalize people living in poverty or people of colour. He also will evaluate the bail system in the county, even though a bond set industry will still be there, but he wanted to reduce the mass incarceration and still implementing the fair system.
Several High Profile Cases
There are several high-profile cases from that wait for John Creuzot to be solved. One of the cases is Botham Jean who was killed by Amber Guyger, a police officer. Even though Guyger was fired from her position but the public is not happy that she has been charged with manslaughter instead of murder. Another case is the murder of Sherin Matthews who her father is charged with her murder and her mother is charged with child abandonment. He said that he will learn more about these cases to take a closer look.
Another plan that he will do is to re-educate prosecutors who work closely with drug use and abuse. He also stated that all prosecutors will also need mental health training for a better approach for nonviolent cases related to mental illness offenders.