Homeless in Arizona

Homeless Court assists in getting lives back on track

In my case I am homeless because of the government. The government took everything I owned away from me including my homes!!!!

How many times do I have to say it, the government is the cause of the problem, not the solution to the problem.

Source

Homeless Court assists in getting lives back on track

By Dianna M. Náñez The Republic | azcentral.com Wed Feb 27, 2013 9:11 AM

Tempe Judge MaryAnne Majestic is among a group of Valley judges and lawyers who aim to establish a model court system in Maricopa County to help people who are homeless get back on their feet.

Last week, Maricopa County Regional Homeless Court became more accessible and more effective Valley-wide, Majestic said. The court opened Tuesday at a new site, in the Phoenix Lodestar Day Resource Center. The center is in the Human Resources Campus, which also houses the Central Arizona Shelter Services, which each year serves nearly 10,000 metro-Phoenix homeless people.

Majestic said the move follows an expansion last year of the homeless court to all Municipal and Justice courts in Maricopa County. Previously, the court could handle citations only from Tempe, Phoenix and Glendale, as these cities had partnered to agree to allow municipal judges to hear cases from their jurisdictions.

The Lodestar site puts the court services in a location that has caseworkers and other services for people who are homeless or who were recently homeless.

“It’s one-stop shopping,” Majestic said.

She added that ending homelessness is a lofty goal but the system is evidence that a community can make strides toward solving the problem.

“It’s one person at a time,” she said.

The idea for the regional homeless court has roots in Tempe.

Glendale, Tempe and Phoenix established the court in 2006 after realizing that people were entering the court system with minor infractions that had become difficult to resolve in the midst of dealing with homelessness.

Majestic said that retired Tempe Judge Louraine Arkfeld realized that the unresolved citations or fines were creating financial and legal hurdles for individuals who were trying to work their way out of homelessness.

“They were in a place where they were in a hole and they were never able to climb out of that hole due to a minor victimless infraction,” she said.

Arkfeld, along with Phoenix and Glendale judges, agreed that people who had progressed in getting their life back on track would benefit from being able to clear up citations without having to travel to separate courtrooms.

“The goal was to provide access to justice for people who had lost that (access) due to the fact of their homelessness,” she said.

In 2010, a couple of Maricopa County Board of Supervisors members, impressed with the court system, decided it should be expanded, Majestic said. Maricopa County Superior Court Presiding Judge Norman Davis took the lead and asked what the cities needed to expand the court to handle citations from any Maricopa County court.

Last year, statewide legislation passed that cleared the way for each presiding judge of each county in Arizona to delegate a regional homeless court and a presiding judge who may hear any case, regardless of the originating municipality. Davis appointed Majestic as Maricopa County’s presiding judge for the regional homeless court.

The hope is to create a stellar system in Maricopa County that other Arizona counties would want to emulate, Majestic said.

The homeless-court system will accept only people who meet certain criteria, which includes working with a caseworker and establishing income. Through the court, a defendant may lower fines by volunteering to work at approved community-services agencies, such as the Salvation Army.

Stephen Sparks, director of operations at the Tempe Community Action Agency, said that the bar is high for people to qualify for the court. People must have found a home and either have a job or have applied for services, such as veterans benefits, that would provide income.

Sparks said that clearing up civil violations is critical for a person who is homeless because a clean record may allow for applying for a driver’s license or for obtaining a better-paying job.

“It helps those who are really focused on getting their life back together and who have already made some significant progress,” he said.