DUI courts violate equality ruling'Separate but equal' concept was tossed out 50 years ago Andrew
Thomas More than 50 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Brown vs. Board of Education that separate-but-equal public institutions violate our Constitution. Today, ironically, it is the courts themselves that are violating this principle. Maricopa County Superior Court has created what it calls special DUI courts to provide "therapy" to Spanish-speaking and Native American DUI felons. Maricopa County's race-based DUI courts are a very dangerous precedent. They establish the separate-but-equal doctrine in Arizona's criminal justice system. I have filed suit in federal court to challenge these practices, as they plainly violate basic civil rights. Court administrators have justified these practices as essential to provide an alternative to "the dominant culture, male Caucasians." Yet even throughout our nation's long and tragic history of segregation and Jim Crow, Southern governments never established separate courts based on race. The Rev. Oscar Tillman, president of the Maricopa County NAACP, recently stood with me and asked that these courts be disbanded. Interpreters are provided to all criminal defendants who don't speak English. So why create segregated courts? Court administrators claim these courts are necessary for "public safety," as criminal offenders in race-based courts supposedly enjoy a lower recidivism rate than do offenders in non-racial courts. Are Spanish-speaking offenders really less likely to commit another felony because their court proceedings are in Spanish instead of English? The courts certainly haven't proved this. |
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Despite numerous requests from my office and a pledge from the Superior Court's attorneys to provide proof of these claims, the courts have offered no supporting evidence. The County Attorney's Office has conducted a preliminary review of the available data and found no evidence to support this claim. We could find no appreciable difference in recidivism rates (2.6 percent of general DUI court defendants committing new felonies vs. 2.5 percent of Spanish DUI court defendants). Even more troubling, we learned that the average jail sanction given defendants in the general DUI court was more than twice the average jail sanction given defendants in Hispanic DUI court (seven days vs. three days). This is discrimination in its starkest form. Such disparate treatment also shows that race-based courts, far from promoting public safety, endanger the public by offering lighter penalties to selected defendants. The argument that race-based courts are necessary for "public safety" is not only factually dubious but morally repugnant. It boils down to the contention that racial discrimination in sentencing is necessary to reduce the crime rate. Consider the implications. If I assigned prosecutors in the County Attorney's Office to bureaus based on their race or nationality (in an effort to "improve their productivity" or similarly absurd reasons), or advocated disparate punishment for defendants based on their race or nationality, the uproar would be deafening. Maricopa County's presiding judge also has admitted she would consider creating new courts for other races or groups if she concluded this would benefit society. Are we to balkanize our nation to the point that every race, nationality or religious group can demand their own court? And if not, how do we deny these requests now that some separate courts have been established? It's fascinating to observe the mental gymnastics required for people to justify separate-but-equal courts. I cannot, however, indulge in the same pastime. When I took office, I took an oath to uphold the Constitution. I will not violate this oath even when means I must do things that are unpopular or contrary to the wishes of vocal special interests. Justice must always be color-blind. This is a principle which cannot be undermined and which I, for one, am willing to defend. The writer is Maricopa County Attorney. This information is courtesy of http://www.azcentral.com/ |
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