By Maria Hickey, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – St. Louis' mayor and police chief say judges should share the blame for the rise in crime.
FBI statistics released earlier this week show St. Louis' violent crime increased more than 10% in the first half of this year over the same time period in 2005.
As a result Mayor Francis Slay and Police Chief Joe Mokwa say there will be a restructuring of the police department.
But during a press conference they both said some judges are returning criminals to the streets multiple times.
"If it's going to be a revolving door, if the same people are going to keep being arrested and they're going to end up right back on the streets very quickly, it frustrates people in the neighborhoods. It frustrates the police department because they're working very hard to get people behind bars," Mayor Slay said. "It's frustrating for all of us."
Circuit Court Judge John Garvey has a different view. He was a St. Louis alderman from 1991 to 1995.
"There's a lot of finger pointing, there's a lot of blame to go around and the judges are an easy target because we don't have a spokesperson," Judge Garvey said. "We don't have press conferences."
Judge Garvey says a lot goes into sentencing.
He points out that more people have gotten probation following cutbacks in the state's drug treatment programs.