Thursday, September 18, 2008

Harris County's lack of humanity

Harris County had the opportunity to do the right thing this week for its citizens accused of violating the law. While the Harris County Criminal (In)Justice Center was closed on Monday and Tuesday and all court appearances were automatically reset, there was no such empathy the reset of the week.

Half the county is still living without electricity due to Ike and are forced to stand in line for water, ice and food. Children are unable to go to school and many of our fellow citizens are unable to work. Gasoline has become a precious commodity. Given these circumstances, the decent thing would have been to reset all cases this week so that all of us (don't forget we are ALL presumed innocent) can get our lives under control.

But what did Harris County decide to do? The county decided that everyone out on bond with a court setting on Wednesday, today or tomorrow, had to appear in court. Our fellow citizens were forced to use precious fuel and time that could best be used to support their families so that they could sit in a courthouse.

You can find out a lot about the character of a person by watching how they deal with a crisis. You can also find out a lot about the lack of character of people by watching how they deal with a crisis.

On this note the people in charge of the criminal (in)justice systems in Harris and Galveston Counties showed their lack of character.

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