Providing more services, Demapan said during his State of the Judiciary Address on Friday, will significantly reduce the heavy cost of operating and staffing the island’s correctional facilities and the judiciary.
“The services I am proposing will properly identify the risks and needs of the clients and provide the necessary resources to help these people overcome underlying problems,” Demapan said.
He added that the resources will include referrals to community guidance centers for mental health treatment, chemical dependency treatment or other services that the clients need.
“Prevention is preferable because it is less costly in the long run,” Demapan said. He added that focusing on community services could stop the cycle of visits to and from the courthouse.
“This cycle must stop because it is costly and our mission of rehabilitation is not going to work,” he added.
Demapan cited three types of criminals and defendants — those people who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, those who commit serious crimes where justice and lengthy jail times are the only usual solution, and those who are in the middle who can still be “rescued from continuing down the slippery slope.”
“I believe these are the people we need to invest our resources in and place them on supervised probation with emphasis toward correcting the errors they have committed,” Demapan said.
However, he said a probation officer servicing more than 300 clients could only do too much and the judiciary is left with the only other option of putting them in jail.
Demapan’s 45-minute address in the House chamber on Capital Hill was attended by Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez, retired Washington state Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Guy, retired California Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso, retired CNMI Judge Timothy Bellas, former CNMI Associate Justice and former Lt. Gov. Jesus C. Borja, cabinet members, judges and justices.
