The Judicial Department has announced that four courts will be closed as a result of cuts to its budget. Of those four courts, three are juvenile courts, in Danbury, Stamford and Torrington. Going forward, juvenile matters in Danbury will go to Bridgeport and Waterbury; matters in Stamford will go to Bridgeport; and matters in Torrington will go to Waterbury.
Take a look at a map of Connecticut. The distances from the courts to be eliminated to the substitute locations are not trivial. Consider the mission of juvenile courts: to protect children and to preserve families. Families that appear before juvenile courts are almost never wealthy; in fact, they are almost never even middle class. These are very poor families, for the most part plagued by addiction, chronic unemployment, incomplete education, incarceration and a long history of serious struggle just to satisfy basic living needs. They almost always meet the income limits to qualify for counsel to be appointed for them, paid for by the Judicial Department. When a court location is not on a public transportation route, even getting to the present courts is a significant problem.
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