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Fulton Superior Court chief judge talks crime and mental health
BY KEVIN C. MADIGAN
Christopher Brasher, chief judge of Fulton County Superior Court, told a Buckhead
audience on March 12 that criminals with mental health issues are one of the biggest
and costliest problems in the state’s justice system.
Appearing at a meeting of the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods at Peachtree
Presbyterian Church, Brasher said that troubled inmates in Georgia’s prisons would be
better off with alternative programs to incarceration.
“Here is a sad truth: 40 years ago we had places in our society where people with
chronic mental health problems went to. Those were terrible places - they were men
tal hospitals. We don’t have those anymore, but we do have prisons and jails,” he said.
The prison budget in Georgia is $1.3 billion this year, according to Brasher, and $200
million of that is spent on mental health treatment and psychotropic medications for
an imprisoned population of 53,000.
“Next to personnel, the biggest cost to prisons and jails is mental health treatment, a
problem exacerbated by substance abuse and poor choices,” Brasher said. “If we proac
tively try to get people out of the system who are suffering from a mental health prob
lem, give them incentives to get better, be compliant with medication, go to group [ther
apy], and take their [drug] tests, then we’re going to have better outcomes.”
Brasher, a Sandy Springs resident, hailed a Fulton County program called Pre-Ar
rest Diversion that aims to “reduce the number of people in jails who would be better
served by social and behavioral health services,” according to the county’s description.
It allows police officers to identify candidates for the service instead of arresting and
putting them in jail.
The county also has a number of special treatment courts that cater to individuals
with mental health and substance disorders. “The biggest is Drug Court,” Brasher said.
“It’s for someone who has a demonstrated history of drug addiction and is willing to
subject himself to a treatment group, testing, etcetera. If we put them in prison, statis
tics show they’ll be an addict in dormancy while they’re inside. They’ll get out and go
right back to it again.”
Another is a court specifically for documented veterans with similar issues. “We’ve
got room to grow each of those programs. I hope that we do, because they are success
ful, but the reality is that every time we try to put someone in, we’re taking a chance on
them that they’re going to do their part.”
Brasher has a theory about repeat offenders. “People who get caught a lot are real
ly bad at what they do, because they engage in concrete thinking: ‘I see, I want, I take.’
These are not high thinkers. Whatever is causing that — obstinacy, drug abuse, or men
tal health problems — that cycle has to be broken. If it’s obstinacy then they go to pris
on. If it’s drug abuse or mental health, they need treatment.”
The BCN and other local organizations have expressed concern that local crime is
driven by repeated offenders released on bond.
Asked about the continuing number of repeat offenders caught in Buckhead, Brash
er responded, “Repeat offenders used to be defined by how many times they had been
arrested. In the criminal justice system that doesn’t really have an impact, because we
now count how many times people have been convicted.” He added a caveat: “That’s not
to say there aren’t people on that list who weren’t previously convicted.”
Addressing the 60 people in the room, Brasher said, “There’s no doubt that you
all want better outcomes from public safety in Fulton County. I’ve told you some of
the things that we’ve done to try and address that and they’re continuing efforts, and
they’re not perfect, but one of them is to try and transfer more and more repeat offend
ers out of the non-complex system and into our courts. These are people who need to be
in front of Superior Court judges and not in front of magistrates. That’s why we’ve dou
bled this [number] in the last three years.”
Atlanta releases draft
tree ordinance
BY JOHN RUCH
johnruch(a)reporternewspapers.net
The city of Atlanta has issued a long-delayed draft of a new Tree Protection Ordi
nance. But it came the day that major coronavirus pandemic shutdowns began and it
now remains to be seen whether it can be vetted and formalized in line with its origi
nal late-August schedule.
The draft is the first step in reviving a rewrite process that abruptly stalled last fall
amid complaints from residents and City Council members about various problems, in
cluding a lack of details in the presentations. Details are plentiful in the draft as previ
ously promised by Tim Keane, commissioner of the Department of City Planning.
“It is the intent of the city to protect all trees, and especially mature trees, to the ex
tent feasible and to ensure that when trees must be removed, trees that will yield the
same quality of canopy shall be replanted wherever conditions permit,” reads part of
the basic mission statement in the draft.
Significant concerns among tree advocates have centered on clear-cutting of lots, al
lowances for optional removal of healthy trees, and insufficient enforcements. Devel
opers also have expressed concerns on burdensome or unclear standards. The draft ap
pears to attempt to balance out those interests.
A key provision is requiring a permit for removing healthy, non-hazardous trees on
private property if they are pines 12 or more inches in diameter at breast height, or all
other species 6 inches DBH or greater. Permits may be given for certain types of con
struction and landscaping, among other reasons.
The draft also suggests possible permit exemptions for such projects as affordable
housing, mass transit and “green” buildings.
The draft proposes that appeals can be filed by any resident or business-owner with
in 500 feet or within the same Neighborhood Planning Unit.
The draft has minimum tree density requires for various lot sizes and retains a sys
tem for replanting or paying into the Tree Fund to compensate for removing mature
trees. It includes a provision that no single-family residential development would be ap
proved without a minimum of three trees saved or planted. It also requires Tree Com
mission approval for clear-cutting a lot.
The draft ordinance makes an allowance for removing some trees without replant
ing or compensation. It would allow for one tree or 5% of the total DBH of trees on the
site - whichever is greater - to be removed from a parcel every three years without re
planting or compensation, as long as the site meets or exceed 150% of the tree-density
requirements.
The draft ordinance addresses some of the enforcement and protection provisions
of the current ordinance that have drawn criticism. Among other provisions, it requires
a “pre-demolition” inspection of trees marked for removal and says trees at construc
tion sites must be protected by a fenced area sufficient to protect its root zone. The city
may require greater than minimum protections in certain cases, the draft ordinance
says.
To read the full draft ordinance, including a Word document that can be marked in
red with specific suggested changes, see the “Urban Ecology Framework” page on the
city’s website at atlantaga.gov.
