By Terrie Best
Courthouses are places of pain, frustration, hopelessness and fear. San Diego’s new downtown courthouse is a towering reminder of the taxpayer money going into perpetuating a criminal justice system that is broken, favors prosecutors and works against the poor and disenfranchised.
We’ve been hearing about prosecutor misconduct in the news and through a valiant effort by documentarians to tell the stories of the wrongfully accused, Walter McMillian, Kalief Browder, The Central Park Five as well as the Orange County DA use of inmate informants. Hundreds of cheats which ruined the lives of many have been exposed through the media. And like cockroaches, for every one uncovered there are likely many more.
Since prosecutorial, police and courtroom treachery happens here in San Diego, as evidenced by the work of local activists in the Time Done and Participatory Defense models, I will bear witness and write about it. This particular practice is called courtwatch. It is done by citizens who believe when we watch the system, the powerful behave better.