Seattle's progressive new city attorney, Erika Evans, is bringing back a version of the community court that her predecessor, Republican Ann Davison, axed in 2023. Evans hopes to fix what she sees as flaws in the old system by giving people accused of relatively minor crimes better access to services and treatment, with more accountability.
Evans joins us on Seattle Nice, along with Jenna Robert, the criminal division chief in her office, to explain how the new Connection Court is supposed to work and why they think it will succeed where the old community court fell short. They also walk us through a related new policy, known as HiPRO, which targets repeat offenders.
Sandeep, who was a harsh critic of the old community court, likes a lot of what he’s hearing. Erica has serious doubts about the overall approach, particularly the push for more aggressive prosecution and potentially more jail time for people charged with three offenses in 90 days. David likes the idea of combining progressive compassion with accountability but wants to see clear measures of success.
We also get into Seattle's stubbornly high property crime rate, what Evans learned from a recent fact-finding trip to San Francisco, and her plans for a new sex trafficking prosecutor focused on Aurora Avenue.
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