[LIVE, ON-SCENE REPORT]
AUSTIN (Special)--Here during the RJM Conference, a lot of speakers addressed various topics in the area of peacemaking within various venues. But one of the speakers highlighted the Conference not only with the prevalence of his position, but also with a revolutionary method that this man developed here in Travis County to deal with the ever-increasing problem of crime here in the Austin area. And his ideas have not only garnered him statewide and national attention, but have even made a pivotal difference in a major election.
[See a bio and picture of Earle by clicking here to the Travis County Democratic Party site! For a story from the 2000 election and info about Earle and Republican challenger Shane Phelps, click here for a related story at the Austin Chronicle Web site!]
That man is Ronnie Earle, the longtime District Attorney of Travis County. And the idea? Call it "circle sentencing". But what is it and how does it work? And why can't the traditional model of adversarial justice work just as well as it has always been. Earle, though, wasn't always this revolutionary. He at one time also operated like a typical prosecutor--one who, like the rest, would primarily aim to put the guy behind bars or worse and throw away the key. But when Earle saw this approach as bearing no fruit, he decided to try to find a different way. And that search ended in a very interesting place--a circle... "Do you ever have the feeling that something isn't right-- that something is not right or something out there that's just as wrong as it could be?" Earle initially asked Conference participants. ",,,that there are almost two million people in jail or prison in this country and it's a $35 million dollar a year industry? Do you ever get the feeling that somebody isn't doing their job exactly right? In the Bible, it says that our job is what? Our job--I believe it's Micah...it says that the job of every person is to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. We don't do a whole lot of justice, we seem to think that nobody deserves mercy unless they're rich--and in terms of walking humbly with God, it's hard to walk humbly when you're rich...We wonder what it is we're supposed to do about it because we think that something's not right."
The problem lies further, according to Earle, in the fact
