Het verhaal
Las Vegas Municipal Court held the first graduation of its Get Off the Street Community Court on Thursday, Aug. 20, honoring eight people who completed a specialty docket meant to keep unhoused defendants out of a cycle of jail and low-level charges.
Joaneka Smith said she was pregnant and without stable housing in January when she faced a misdemeanor in municipal court and expected community service or jail. “I was pregnant; I was scared,” she said Thursday. “I thought I was gonna go to jail.” Instead the court enrolled her in Community Court. She told the Review-Journal the program helped her secure an apartment, food, vital documents, tax literacy, a stroller and a laptop, and that her job later promoted her. The court dismissed her case and gave her a diploma.
Mayor Shelley Berkley told graduates she was “absolutely delighted to share this occasion with you” and said it mattered to the city “to ensure that you succeed and make a difference in your own lives and in the community.” Hearing Commissioner Anthony Ruggiero, who oversees the program, introduced the five graduates who attended. Tiffany Taylor, now a front-desk agent at a Strip property, said the court “don’t see us as criminals” and that “I wake up excited for what tomorrow means.” Trenton Brooks said he now holds two jobs and is working toward a GED. Oscar May said he has a job, is learning to budget and is living with family while he looks for his own home. Anthony Saldana said he is managing a restaurant. The other graduates were Amber Gowan, Amanda Keck and Madgela Swindell.
The city says the program lasts between six months and a year and is open to people facing homelessness-related charges such as trespassing, misuse of a bus stop or impeding traffic, with top priority for defendants with substance-abuse issues. Participants are first placed under a safe roof, including treatment facilities. More than 150 people have been referred since January, and 13 were still getting help. Assistant court administrator Cassandra Diaz described it as “an outside box kind of court” that works toward people becoming “healthy, housed, and hired.” Municipal Court Chief Judge Kelly Giordani said judges can learn participants’ circumstances “so that they can have their best life.” The Review-Journal reported the City Council on Wednesday approved a $400,000 federal grant to help fund five of Las Vegas’s specialty courts.