Sundance v. Municipal Court

BIRD, C. J., Concurring and Dissenting.

Although I concur with much of the discussion in the lead opinion, I write separately to stress the inherent limitations of such a solution. Despite its recognition that criminal processing of public inebriates is dehabilitative, dehumanizing and wholly ineffective, the court fails to order relief to remedy the widespread constitutional violations that permeate the present system.

Every day, individuals are rounded up and crowded into unsanitary facilities, forced to experience the dangerous initial stages of withdrawal with little or no medical…