by Cristina Cabada Sidawi, Alachua County Labor Coalition
The ACLC’s Criminal Justice Committee is focused on reforming the Alachua County Court Services into an institution that helps keep people out of jails/prisons. Our committee published a white paper on Court Services with recommendations on how to make it a powerful tool in our criminal justice system, the full version can be found at our website www.laborcoalition.org.
The Alachua County Court Services is a broken system which for years has failed to live up to their goal of reducing incarceration and recidivism. This institution could be a powerful tool for progressive criminal justice reform in Alachua County, but, as it stands, has limited positive impact and often acts as a regressive ingredient in our broken criminal justice system. This is most evident by the shockingly high 78 percent of cases for whom this agency recommended monetary bonds.
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