CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Charlottesville’s Commonwealth’s Attorney agrees there are times he thinks courts go lenient on offenders, but he also likes a lot of what the area’s judiciary gets right adjudicating cases. Joe Platania tells Morning News we hear the stories of those who offend again, but we don’t hear the stories of the 18-year old who turns things around after their criminal justice system encounter. Then he says there are those who it seems his office and others want more for their lives than they want for themselves.

Platania says a key is getting to people early which he hopes Project Safe Neighborhoods with its resources, clinicians, and other initiatives can successfully accomplish. He says judges have a difficult job as they’re like the baseball umpire balancing a number of issues involving each case… and determining the best course of action of a defendant is a combination of art and science.