Compassion and understanding are qualities we want in our judges. We want them to understand our situations, to empathize with our hardships, to be willing to work with us to rectify an issue. But, sometimes, our judges have to be tough. It’s their job to make sure people don’t do more harm, to themselves or to their community, and that’s a huge responsibility.

This week, Judge Andrew Ballard told a defendant, “If I can keep people clean by keeping them in jail, I will.”
It’s a tough line from a judge that we often see out in the county, interacting with recovering addicts, and asking communities to embrace those who are trying to improve their lives.

But it isn’t unexpected, and is, in fact, quite welcome.

Protecting our communities from drugs is only one of the tasks that our local judges and prosecutors have taken on as a condition of that responsibility, but it’s a huge one. If defendants aren’t in the courtroom for drug possession itself, they are often in court on a crime that they committed while under the influence of or while trying to obtain drugs.

Helping people into recovery is great. But if they aren’t willing to do the work, we’re glad our judges are willing to take a tough-love approach and take them off the street until they are.

We commend Judges Ballard and Cooper, and all of our judges, for making these difficult decisions everyday. Thank you for all that you do.