NEW ORLEANS – New Orleans city leaders have been working on ways to improve the city's criminal justice system, including how to treat minor offenses.
The non-profit justice policy group called the VERA Institute of Justice went before the City Council discussing progress they have made.
Jon Wool said the group is in the process of moving marijuana misdemeanors to municipal court, and they're also looking at how it's determined who should stay in jail before trial and who shouldn't.
“Most modern jurisdictions use data driven risk analysis to determine who must be kept in jail after their arrest and who can be released safely to the community,” Wool said. “In New Orleans we do not have such a system. Rather, the two factors that determine whether somebody remains in the prison are pretty simply their assets, whether they have enough money to pay bail and their access"
Wool said his group is working along with members of the criminal justice system to try to improve the process.
