The Bee chain is running an editorial today about ‘bloody, bankrupt Stockton.’ It says the city ‘should serve as a cautionary tale.’
The editorialist gets to the moral in the second paragraph. “Good fiscal management isn’t some esoteric goal. It is essential to the health and safety of real people.”
As confirmation, San Joaquin County District Attorney Jim Willett, speaking in Manteca, painted a bleak picture of the county’s criminal justice system. One factoid: “When a judge gives someone one year in jail, they will be out in 20 days.”
That’s the county, not Stockton. The county’s entire criminal justice system is underfunded and swamped. And the state is ramping up to cut courts more.
