Criminal Justice Program Cuts Detention Days

By Eileen Fleming

New Orleans, La. – A project involving police and prosecutors to get drug cases through the system faster is seeing improvement. Jon Wool of the non-profit Vera Institute said most cases involve defendants who are not likely to face a jail sentence, but have been stuck behind bars.
He said streamlining saves money.
District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro has so far been unable to persuade the criminal district court judges to change the system they use to distribute cases. Judges have said that they must remain independent from the prosecutors and defense attorneys. Cannizzaro called for changes in a January speech, and complained last week to a somewhat sympathetic New Orleans City Council.