Criminal Justice System in L.A.

The series “Justice in Distress” (Part A, Dec. 16-22) properly opens up to public scrutiny a criminal justice system in Los Angeles and elsewhere that is overloaded, understaffed and underfunded. It is a system that, quite literally, threatens to overwhelm the ability of each of its parts.

But in the portrait painted, there is an important element missing. Consider the following:

--A Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, on her own time, goes alone at night into one of the most crime-ridden areas of the city to serve a subpoena on a witness because police are too busy battling crime on the streets to assist her.

--A district attorney victim service representative is summoned out of bed at 2 a.m. to go to a crime scene and help a battered wife find shelter, clothing and counseling. She spends the remainder of the night just talking and holding the victim’s hand in time of crisis.

--A prosecutor finds that the eyewitnesses to a murder are unwilling to become involved, so she goes to the crime scene and locates a previously unknown eyewitness whose testimony leads to the conviction of the man who did the shooting.

--A prosecutor in night court digs into his own pocket to buy dinner for a poor crime victim and then pays another victim’s parking fees because the county cannot do so.

Yes, the criminal justice system is in distress. The professional men and women of the Los Angeles district attorney’s office are bright spots in a system’s bleak environment.

IRA REINER, District Attorney, Los Angeles County