SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - A new court in San Francisco’s Tenderloin that is being created to handle low-level criminal behavior in the downtown area has found a home just two blocks from the steps of City Hall.

The City’s Criminal Justice Center — a special court that Mayor Gavin Newsom has said will direct offenders of such crimes as nonviolent drug use, theft, prostitution and aggressive panhandling to appropriate social services rather than jail or fines — will be housed at 575 and 555 Polk Street.

Modeled partially after New York City’s Midtown Community Court, which requires most defendants to perform community service or attend a group meeting within 24 hours of arraignment, the San Francisco’s new court will take cases from the Civic Center, Tenderloin, Union Square and South of Market neighborhoods.

One judge will handle the cases in an effort to build rapport and personal knowledge with defendants, according to the Mayor’s Office, and an advisory board and town hall meetings would bring residents and merchants into a partnership designed to restore the community.

“It’s about solving a problem as opposed to incarceration and release, incarceration and release,” Newsom told The Examiner.

The new court is a collaboration with the Superior Court, Police Department, District Attorney’s Office, Public Defender, Sheriff’s Office, Adult Probation Department, Human Services Agency and Department of Public Health, he said.

Results will be seen years down the road, not overnight, Newsom said, adding that after then-New York Mayor David Dinkins proposed Manhattan’s court, “It took years and years to reach the tipping point.”

Today, Newsom will submit a letter to the Board of Supervisors to release $500,000 in reserve funding for the center.

Newsom said he was “hopeful” that the Board of Supervisors would take those funds off reserve, the last major obstacle to the center becoming reality.

On Jan. 4 the program began with five cases a week in the Hall of Justice on Bryant Street. Construction on two holding cells is currently moving forward at 575 Polk St. The social services will be located on the second floor of 555 Polk, which will become available to The City in March.

The center is scheduled to be operational in July, according to the Mayor’s Office.

dsmith@examiner.com

Comments from Examiner Readers

7:29 PM MST on Sat., Apr. 26, 2008 re: "Court has financial, structural hurdles"

Examiner Reader said:
"Supervisor Chris Daly, whose district includes much of the center�s target area and who sits on the Board of Supervisors budget committee, said he would not back the proposal because of The City�s $338 million projected budget deficit which has already resulted in service cuts.A system of �restorative justice,� when an offender goes to a program rather than jail, should be built within the current court system, he said."" There he goes again, Stupervisor Daly will stop at nothing to stop anyone or any proposed system to try to stop crime...even if its so called quality of life crime. Heck, yeah let criminals smash your car window and rob you...Daly has said in public that people with cars have money for insurance so its not a real crime. The real crime is having the tyranny of progressives such as Stupervisor Daly dictate his world view.

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3:15 PM MST on Fri., Apr. 25, 2008 re: "Court has financial, structural hurdles"

Native San Franciscan said:
Haven�t you ever heard of the Broken Windows concept? That�s where the prosecution of low level crimes like abusive panhandling, public drunkenness, public urination, etc., leads to an overall drop in more serious violent crime. When you allow people to engage in low level quality of life crimes it creates an atmosphere where more violent criminals feel they can commit their crimes with impunity. I lived in New York in the 1990�s when the implemented this type of court there and the public drunkenness, panhandling, urination and other problems declined drastically. My parents grew up dirt poor in the Depression but never harassed people for money, urinated in their doorway or defecated on their street. This problem an issue destructive behavior by out of town vagrants and needs to be treated that way.

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2:52 PM MST on Fri., Apr. 25, 2008 re: "Court has financial, structural hurdles"

Examiner Reader said:
The City has a huge deficit and Newsome wants to spend more money on a frivolous copy cat of New York's quality of life court? I say that the Mayor is a FOOL. Spend money when you have it, not when you need it.

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6:49 PM MST on Thu., Dec. 6, 2007 re: "New justice center finds home"

Examiner Reader said:
is this facility going to be hiring anytime soon

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