Proponents of Criminal Justice Reform Say Changes to Spokane Regional Law and Justice Council “do not represent this community”

Proponents of criminal justice reform are proposing to replace the former Spokane Regional Council for Law and Justice with a new composition, a change they believe is dampening the voices of minorities and a major step backwards for racial justice.

The old members of the Law and Justice Council met for the last time on Wednesday. The meeting was informal as the Spokane County Board of Commissioners officially disbanded the group on June 29th.

Even before the informal meeting, the Spokane Regional Law and Justice Council had no decision-making authority – and neither did its new line-up.

The proposal to dissolve the Spokane Regional Law and Justice Council would silence voices for reform, say several members

Reform advocates say removing the community’s votes is a huge step backwards. | Continue reading “

The council was and will be an advisory body made up of leaders from local government, the criminal justice system and the general public. It exists to advise the district commissioners on criminal matters.

However, there are some key differences between the previous and future Law and Justice Councils.

First, former members of the Law and Justice Council say the new council will have a different goal.

The Law and Justice Council’s website states that its mission is to create a “racially fair, cost-effective criminal justice system.”

The resolution that forms the new council makes no reference to racial justice.

Proponents of criminal justice reform say the new council will have a narrower scope and will not focus on addressing issues of racial justice.

This is striking and meaningful, said Kurtis Robinson, who served on the council’s Racial Justice Subcommittee, is black and serves as vice president of the Spokane NAACP.

Robinson said the district commissioners have created a new council to ensure they have less to hear from criminal reform advocates and people of color.

“They continue to build dynamics that at first glance appear to be trying to do the right thing, but over time and upon inspection they reveal their true intentions,” said Robinson.

The new council will also be smaller with 18 members than the old council with 25.

Three district commissioners, the Spokane Mayor, a Spokane City Council representative, the Spokane Police Chief, and a community member have lost their seats.

The new council will have five more members than required by state law – the district defender, the district court director and three general parishioners.

Spokane County Commissioner Mary Kuney said the new council was a “compromise” and the commissioners did not want to go back to the bare minimum required by state law.

In October, the Spokane Criminal Justice Commission drafted a report on the Law and Justice Council. The report said the council had become unwieldy due to its size and ineffective due to power struggles. It should be scaled back, the report said.

Spokane County Attorney Larry Haskell sent district commissioners a proposal based on the findings of the Criminal Justice Commission report.

Haskell’s proposal would have dissolved the Law and Justice Council and replaced it with the essentials required by state law.

Haskell’s idea would have cut the council in half.

But Cary Driskell, Spokane Valley city attorney who represented communities outside Spokane on the old council, said he didn’t think there was a significant difference between a 25-person council and an 18-person council. If the goal was to make the council less cumbersome, this new group doesn’t seem any better, he said.

The changes in the Law and Justice Council are relatively subtle, proponents of reform said.

On the surface, the community input field appears to be checked by keeping three total community members.

But the new council has a smaller Racial Justice Subcommittee – only five members, while the old one had 14 members – and there are conditions attached to general members of the community. One must be a victim advocate, another must be a criminal justice systemist, and one must chair the Racial Justice Committee. All community representatives are still appointed by the district commissioners.

“I think the resolution passed by the Board of County Commissioners takes us back more than a decade,” said Mary Lou Johnson, former member of the Racial Justice Subcommittee.

Johnson also said the county was not transparent about passing the resolution dissolving and reforming the Law and Justice Council.

The Commissioners discussed it in the Any Other business section of their June 29 meeting, but it was never specifically mentioned on their agenda.

Breann Beggs, president of Spokane City Council, whose seat is disappearing under the new law and justice council, agreed with Johnson that the new council is a step backwards.

“We may get more decisions,” he said, noting that the stripped-down council might have less internal disagreement. “But it won’t really solve the collaborative solution problem.”

Curtis Hampton was not on the Law and Justice Council, but served on the Council’s Racial Justice Subcommittee and as a deputy to Carmen Pacheco-Jones, one of the community members.

Hampton, who is Black, had harsh words for the commissioners regarding the reorganized council.

“This body continues to represent systemic injustices,” said Hampton. “This board does not represent this community.”

Hampton also said the new council “is what is wrong with America today”. To address racial inequalities, the council needs to understand the experiences of those hardest hit by the criminal justice system, Hampton said.

That means hearing more input from blacks, browns and poor people, said Hampton.

“Ask these undesirables, ‘How fair are the halls of justice?’ Said Hampton. “Then we will really get justice.”

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich backed Haskell’s proposal and was one of the members of the Law and Justice Council who want the law to be reduced.

It is the “activists” in the council who have made the group ineffective, said Knezovich.

“I haven’t seen anything from this group that really made an impression,” said Knezovich. “There is a way to fix it, but you stopped us from fixing it.”

Knezovich also said that some claims made by proponents of criminal justice reform – who emphasize that the legal system disproportionately affects people of color – are incorrect.

“The system is not racist, folks. For a system to be racist, the people in it have to be racist, ”said Knezovich. “They tell me which of my judges is racist, which of my prosecutors, which of my defense lawyers is racist.”

Robinson said he hopes voters will pay attention to what the county is doing with these changes.

Even if voters aren’t paying attention, it’s God, warned Robinson.

“Are you paying attention?” he asked the district commissioners. “You are not invisible. We absolutely see what you are doing. I know I do. “

Spokane County Commissioners Josh Kerns and Al French were unavailable for comment at press time.