Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah’s Chief Justice says without better treatment resources for criminal defendants justice reform will not work.
Chief Justice Matthew Durrant at his State of the Judiciary Address on Monday called on legislatures to increase funding for treatment options, especially as recent criminal justice reforms are keeping more people out of jail.
Durrant said as offenders who would have previously gone to jail are released back into the community without treatment options crime will likely increase.
In addition to mental health and drug treatment, Durrant says the state needs to provide criminal defendants with better defense options, saying there is a lack of oversight on how counties and municipalities comply with the constitutional mandate to provide lawyers to indigent defendants.
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