Tarrant judges may be fired after audit of juvenile courts

Tarrant County’s top elected leader has called for two appointed judges to lose their jobs after an audit of the juvenile justice system revealed they rarely hold hearings, which has contributed to dramatic overcrowding in the detention center. Another county leader on Tuesday suggested publicly that some of the “systemic problems” in how young people are detained are rooted in racism. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported on the audit Friday after obtaining a copy. The 21-page audit uncovered wide-ranging problems at nearly every level, including violations of Texas law in how some youths are housed, and how two associate judges who handle juvenile cases cancel or postpone most of their scheduled hearings. One earned the nickname “ghost” court among employees. Other Texas counties of similar size are not having the types of overcrowding problems that Tarrant has, even as the number of juvenile criminal cases has decreased over the last decade.

On Tuesday, Tarrant County commissioners formally reviewed the audit, prepared by Carey Cockerell, who served as Tarrant County’s director of juvenile services for 20 years. The commissioners had strong words in reaction to the audit. “I would like for us to talk about this at the Juvenile Board meeting tomorrow to get a feel for defunding those two courts,” said Glen Whitley, the top commissioner. “I want to talk to them about if we did away with the judges, we asked them to assign another district judge to help oversee (cases).” The Tarrant County Juvenile Board, which meets Wednesday, is made up of judges across the county. The 323rd District Court judge, Alex Kim, oversees the juvenile detention center and the two associate judges. The audit doesn’t name the two associate judges, but they are Cynthia Terry and Andy Porter. Porter is running for election this fall to be the Criminal District Court No. 4 judge. Terry is running this fall to be the 325th District Court judge.