http:\/\/twitter.com\/lensipes<\/a>.<\/p>\n[Audio Begins]<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 Hello, this is Cedric Hendricks and welcome to DC Public Safety.\u00a0 Today we\u2019re talking with Chief Judge Lee Satterfield of the DC Superior Court about DC Safe Surrender.\u00a0 Chief Judge Satterfield, what can people expect when they come to the courthouse this year hoping to surrender during the DC Safe Surrender Program?<\/p>\n
Chief Judge Lee Satterfield:\u00a0 Well as you know Cedric, a few years ago we had the Safe Surrender Program.\u00a0 Before it was at a church, we moved it to the courthouse because of financial considerations and the budget and those issues.\u00a0 It\u2019s less costly.\u00a0 But it\u2019s going to be the same type of program.\u00a0 The judge is going to be in the same mindset that they were in the church.\u00a0 The other partners are going to be there doing the same things they were doing at the church so we expect to have a successful program just like we had at the church.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 Now what type of warrants are you focusing on for those that surrender, because I know that some warrants that are excluded from this process?<\/p>\n
Chief Judge Lee Satterfield:\u00a0 Well sure, I mean for the program itself, we\u2019re looking at non-violent warrants, you know, misdemeanor or felony.\u00a0 But you know, as a judge, I\u2019d encourage everybody if they have a warrant to turn themselves in because you\u2019re always going to be looked at more favorably if you take responsibility for that warrant, you take care, then if you don\u2019t and other people have to come out and get you.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 Now is this just for folks with warrants issued in the District of Columbia?\u00a0 What about folks in the surrounding communities?\u00a0 If they hear about this and they have a warrant in Maryland and Virginia, is this something that they can participate in?<\/p>\n
Chief Judge Lee Satterfield:\u00a0 I would encourage you to turn yourself in in your jurisdiction and not at the Superior Court, because we\u2019re looking at warrants that have been issued by the court, people not appearing in court or arrest warrants that have been issued or assigned by judges.\u00a0 So we\u2019re looking at folks who have warrants in this jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 Is this for adults and juveniles or just adults?<\/p>\n
Chief Judge Lee Satterfield:\u00a0 Just adults.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 Okay, now is there an overarching public safety benefit here that we really want people to understand, both with respect to individuals and their families?\u00a0 Cause you know, it\u2019s clear that families can see value in this and bring their loved one in as well.<\/p>\n
Chief Judge Lee Satterfield:\u00a0 Well, I would hope that families see a lot of value in this because a program like this protects the individual that has the warrant.\u00a0 It protects the family members, because if the police or marshals have to come out to the home, there are chances and risks of the children being scared if they\u2019re in the home, family members getting involved in the process to arrest the offender.\u00a0 So it helps the family, it protects the property.\u00a0 Many people live in homes with their relatives and the police come through the home.\u00a0 They\u2019re there to serve a purpose.\u00a0 And sometimes property can be damaged and of course it protects our law enforcement officers who are out there trying to keep the community safe.\u00a0 And so when I hear that as a judge, when I know that somebody\u2019s going to not let those factors come into play by turning themselves in, and that\u2019s something that I\u2019m going to be thinking about favorably because that person has shown responsibility.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to give that person the respect that\u2019s due based on that decision that\u2019s being made.\u00a0 But on the flip side of that, when someone does come in and having been arrested by marshal or police officer, then all those factors were in play and I can\u2019t give them favorable attention to those things, taking responsibility.\u00a0 So when you\u2019re making that decision, family members and others, you know, the best decision will be to come in because we really do look at that more favorably than we do when people are brought in through law enforcement.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 Now DC Safe Surrender was undertaken a few years ago, I believe in 2007 and over 530 individuals turned themselves in.\u00a0 What are your expectations for this time around?<\/p>\n
Chief Judge Lee Satterfield:\u00a0 Well we hope that we get that number and more, because there are a number of outstanding warrants.\u00a0 And you know when it was done a few years ago, it was just a very small percentage, under two percent of the people who turned themselves in, were not released.\u00a0 So if you\u2019re thinking about over 500 people, we\u2019re talking about five or six people who for whatever reason, they may have had other types of warrants pending other circumstances, were not released.\u00a0 So a substantial majority of folk who came in were back in the community after they resolved their warrants.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 Now this event is one that involves a lot of criminal justice partners.\u00a0 Why is this essential to the success?<\/p>\n
Chief Judge Lee Satterfield:\u00a0 Oh, it\u2019s absolutely essential from the prosecutors to the CSOSA to our Criminal Justice Coordinating Counsel.\u00a0 I know I\u2019m going to miss somebody, Public Defender Service, Pre-Trial Services.\u00a0 All these folk are essential because a number of these agencies supervise individuals who are on outstanding warrants and there are agencies whose recommendations the court values in deciding what to do in individual cases like this.\u00a0 So their role is very essential as well.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 And when will DC Safe Surrender take place sir?<\/p>\n
Chief Judge Lee Satterfield:\u00a0 Well it\u2019s going to take place on three consecutive weekends starting on the 13th of August, 20th of August and the 27th of August.<\/p>\n
Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 We\u2019ve been talking with Chief Judge Lee Satterfield of the DC Superior Court about DC Safe Surrender.\u00a0 Thank you sir.<\/p>\n
Chief Judge Lee Satterfield:\u00a0 Thank you very much.<\/p>\n
[Audio Ends]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
See http:\/\/media.csosa.gov for our television shows, blog and transcripts. Radio Program available at http:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/audio\/2011\/07\/dc-safe-surrender-2011-an-interview-with-dc-superior-court-chief-judge-lee-f-satterfield\/ We welcome your comments or suggestions at leonard.sipes@csosa.gov or at Twitter at http:\/\/twitter.com\/lensipes. [Audio Begins] Cedric Hendricks:\u00a0 Hello, this is Cedric Hendricks and welcome to DC Public Safety.\u00a0 Today we\u2019re talking with Chief Judge Lee Satterfield of the DC Superior Court […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audiopodcast","category-fugitivesafesurrender","category-interviewswithpolicymakers","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pBoKk-be","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":698,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions\/698"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}