by Travis Mateer
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by Travis Mateer
Memes have become a popular form of communication in this era of short attention spans precisely because of how much information can be quickly transferred in just an image and, usually, a few words. For example, here is my current impression of the criminal justice system here in Missoula:
Let’s take this idea of a “backlog” from a recent KGVO article where County Attorney, Matt Jennings, is pitching in for Kirsten Pabst. From the link:
In a recent conversation with Chief Deputy Missoula County Attorney Matt Jennings on the KGVO Talk Back program, he provided an explanation for a listener concerned about how long it takes for cases to make it through the criminal justice system in Missoula.
“That’s not always on us,” began Jennings. “There are certainly things in the justice system that take a really long time. Sometimes it can take a while to complete an investigation and charge a case, and then there are a lot of procedural steps that absolutely take a few months but the bigger problem beyond that is the trial calendar.”
Yes, there’s the problem of investigators having to do their jobs, and then there’s the schedules of judges. And those judges are very busy, says the County Attorney. And PLEASE don’t forget about the Covid! (emphasis mine):
Jennings also said that his office is still dealing with the after effects of the COVID pandemic when it comes to their backlog of cases.
“Some of those delays, too, got a lot longer during COVID, and we were seeing cases that really should take six months that were taking two to three years,” he said. “Some of that’s dramatically improving. I think our judges have really tried to prioritize clearing out that backlog. Unfortunately, clearing that out is meant that a lot of things kind of came to a head over the last year. And the system’s really been trying to deal with these older cases while new things come in.”
Cool, things are DRAMATICALLY improving! I wonder how one quantifies dramatic improvement? Because I’d really like to know.
I think my favorite part of Jennings’ multi-tiered explanation is his dance around why people simply don’t appear when they’re supposed to appear for court.
“It’s one of these things where if there isn’t kind of an end date where you need to decide the case, then sometimes people drag their feet, especially if they’re out of custody,” he said. “You know if you’re out in the community but there’s a chance that your sentence could result in you being in custody you might not be in a big rush to resolve that one, so there are a lot of delays.”
To give you an example of what this looks like, here’s one person’s list of “failure to appears” for court.
Remember, this long list of failing is a collaborative effort, and it’s brought to you by investigators, prosecutors, judges, time, addicts-who-don’t-give-a-fuck, and Covid, among other factors.
I keep on hearing the trail of failure and, simultaneously, the path to fixing it leads to Helena, during the legislative session that begins in a month and a few weeks. If you would like to donate to my travel fund, the donation button is at my about page.
Thanks for reading!