Court program aimed at reducing crime on Las Vegas Strip is coming to an end

A Las Vegas official’s decision to end a court program aimed at reducing Strip crime has drawn criticism from the Clark County district attorney, sheriff and the Nevada casino industry’s top trade group.

Justice Court Administrator Jessica Gurley announced last month that the Resort Corridor Court, allowing judges to ban people from the Strip and surrounding areas for up to a year, would “sunset” in November.

She informed District Attorney Steve Wolfson, Sheriff Kevin McMahill and the Nevada Resort Association of her decision in an Aug. 15 letter. Rather than have a single judge assigned to oversee criminal cases that stemmed from incidents on the Strip or its surrounding commercial areas, the court would divide those cases among eight different judges, Gurley wrote.

Ten days later, Wolfson, McMahill and Virginia Valentine, president of the trade group, which also monitors government and regulatory activities that concern gaming, wrote back, urging Gurley not to abandon the policy.

They argued that a community prosecution model, where the same judge, prosecutor and public defender handled such cases, had proven successful in reducing crime in the resort corridor. In Justice Court, judges also handle calendars that consist only of DUI or domestic violence cases.

“Who better to decide on an individual’s needs and his/her fate than a judge who is familiar with the defendant’s history?” they wrote.

The specialty court established in January 2023 was overseen by Justice of the Peace Melissa Saragosa-Stratton before she retired July 1, and Judge Melisa De La Garza took over her caseload.

Gurley wrote that the change would better allocate court resources.

“By adopting the City’s model, the Court aims to replicate the success achieved without the need for a specialty court, ensuring that resources are utilized efficiently across a broader scope,” she wrote.

Wolfson, McMahill and Valentine called Gurley’s concern for resources a “red herring,” given that the resources for treatment are available regardless, and demand for services is the same.

At the time of the resort corridor court’s creation, the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada told the Review-Journal that the policy might encroach on people’s constitutional rights.

On Tuesday, ACLU of Nevada Legal Director Chris Peterson wrote to the Review-Journal: “Shutting down the resort corridor court is probably a good decision, but it fails to alleviate all of the constitutional problems that arise from local government overreach on streets, sidewalks, and other public property that is part of Southern Nevada’s tourism areas.”

Saragosa-Stratton told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that during her tenure, the centralized system helped her “highlight or spotlight problem areas.”

In having one judge, she said, she got to talk to people and build relationships with them to try to figure out what their individual needs were. Without this, she said, the many repeat offenders she saw would be assigned randomly to new judges who did not know their prior situations.

The writers also expressed concern for employees.

“It is not too much for them to ask to travel to and from work safely,” they wrote.

According to the 2023 Gaming Control Board Abstract, 90,000 residents are employed by licensees in the Resort Corridor, not including those employed in restaurants, retail, other leased space or nongaming businesses in the area.

Gurley said that she had received the letter last week, but judges had not convened to discuss it.

Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com.