You can lead a horse to water, but you cant make him drink, the old saying goes, and never is this phrase more accurate than when trying to explain to people that the Hermiston court is not about money, its about remediation.

I frequently hear or read comments from defendants (odd that its almost always from people whove been cited for violating the law) that the legal process is only a revenue stream.  Longer-serving judges have pointed out that this is in reality just another rationalization by someone who was caught.  Its never their violation that creates the issue, its bad luck or the officer didnt like them or, as mentioned above, its just about the money.

Not that any of them likely have a clue as to how tiny the fines are, compared to the overall city budget.  Its tempting to schedule a hearing and quiz them on their actual understanding of finances and justice (but see the folk wisdom that opened this column).

With that in mind, lets take some time here and share with Herald readers just what exactly a court does in regard to remediation, and some specifics that are upcoming for the local court.

Remediation is nothing more than fixing the problem, not the blame.  It is a combination of carrot, stick and repair, with an overall agenda of doing whatever can be reasonably done to make sure that the person who was cited for a violation does not have cause to ever be cited again at least not for the same offense.  There are quite a few tools, formal and informal, to accomplish this result, and after the first of the year there will be even more added to the kit here in Hermiston.

Simplest and most obvious are fixits.  No drivers license, window tint, light not working, unsafe mud fenders   all of these can be taken care of by just getting rid of the problem.  Get a drivers license.  Remove the offending tint.  Fix the light.  Smaller tires or wider fenders.  Problem is solved.

Is there any statutory obligation on the part of the court to dismiss the citation?  None at all in most cases, though there are exceptions such as ORS 806.012, Failure to Carry Proof of Insurance, which requires a court to dismiss the citation if the defendant brings in proof of insurance before arraignment.  That said, if the problem is fixed, and doesnt recur, theres no reason to impose a fine.

Next are the informational remediation plans.  Things like seat belt classes, child seat classes, driving classes and victims impact panels.   Again, when combined with a suspended sentence that includes a dont come back on the same offense component, these can be useful educational tools.  Starting in the new year, the court will be adding classes for first time cell phone offenders and for parents cited for failing to supervise their children. 

Then there is performance-based remediation.  More complex than simple fixits, performance-based remediation may involve cleaning up property thats junk covered, community service in general, or other remedies that involve a defendant doing hours sometimes a lot of hours of some sort of work or other.

Finally, sometimes small repairs, classes or work simply arent sufficient to convince some people to stay within the law, and so you end up with actual punishment fines and jail.  Repeated offenses, blatant unwillingness to accept responsibility for actions, flat-out refusal to understand, all are, sadly, grounds for moving away from remediation and into punishment.  If guidance wont work, maybe pain avoidance will do the trick.

The Hermiston court is not the only court in the nation or even the state with a preference for remediation.  There is an entire movement called community courts which places emphasis on fixing the problem, not the blame.  For those interested in just what community courts are or how they work, more information can be found at http://www.courtinnovation.org/topic/community-court with an interesting short video to centerpiece the site.  There is no formal designation of a court, necessarily, as a community court.  Its just the attitude of the court toward the people that come through the doors.

But personally, I think the justice system is about getting people what they need and deserve, whether theyre defendants at counsel table or the people in the community the court serves.  And the community is best served by a court that is about justice and remediation, not a court that is about money.

Once again, Courtside is in recess but questions about court and court procedures, to  hermistoncourtside@gmail.com, are always in order.