Two juvenile judges in Harris County accounted for one out of every five commitments in the state. Glenn Devlin and John Phillips, both of whom were voted out of office last week, sent 199 kids, 96% of whom were children of color, to state juvenile detention facilities in 2017.
As much as I'd like to think that the voters' decision to oust them from their seats was related in some way to the wholesale warehousing of poor African-American and Latino youth, I know they were just the "victims" of the blue wave that washed over Harris County.
But (soon-to-be-ex) Judge Devlin upped the ante when he released the majority of juveniles who appeared before him after they answered "No" to his question of whether they would kill anyone if he released them. Now I'm certain that most of the kids in question should have been released to their parents' custody in the first place given Judge Devlin's proclivities, but his actions in court were those of a petulant child who had a toy taken away from him.
And in the civil courthouse, another soon-to-be-former judge, Charley Prine, decided he would go the petty route after being voted out of office. It seems that the judge-elect, Angela Graves-Harrington, in the 246th District Court approached the judge to ask about the transition process. Instead of being graceful in defeat, Judge Prine told her to get out of his courtroom and threatened to charge her with trespassing if she returned. Perhaps someone needs to let Judge Prine know that the courtroom in question doesn't belong to him but belongs, instead, to the residents of Harris County.
These are two examples of the fine jurists Republican voters are lamenting because they lost an election. There are two of the judges who lost their job because voters took the easy way out (according to many soon-to-be-ex Republican officeholders) and cast straight ticket votes. These are two of the fine judges, according to Republicans, who lost their jobs as a consequence of partisan elections.
Needless to say, neither judge had any comment when questioned.
Make of that what you will.
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