Crime continues to plague Leflore County because its citizens have grown insensitive to the problems festering around them, Joyce Chiles, an assistant district attorney, said Thursday.
Chiles, a Democratic candidate for district attorney in the Fourth Circuit, spoke at the Greenwood Kiwanis Club, highlighting her record of being tough on crime. She faces another assistant district attorney, Tucker Gore, in the Nov. 4 election.
Chiles said it isn't uncommon these days to hear people talk about murders and then in the same breath move on to the weather.
"You're no longer outraged about crimes being committed in your community," she said. Later, she added, "We're just not involved anymore. We're not outraged anymore, and I have to put some of the blame on your complacency."
In an environment so tolerant of crime, it's important that a district attorney be hard on offenders, Chiles said.
And, according to Leflore County Circuit Judge Gray Evans, that has been Chiles' approach during her 16 years as an assistant district attorney for the Fourth Circuit, which includes Leflore, Sunflower and Washington counties.
Evans, who introduced Chiles to the Kiwanis Club, called her "the best prosecuting attorney I know." Her merits earned her outgoing District Attorney Frank Carlton's endorsement, he said.
"I have tried literally thousands of cases with Joyce, and I can tell you right now: Joyce is tough on crime, but I've never had the first occasion to suspect she is unfair," Evans said.
Chiles addressed a case against a Tchula mother accused of leaving seven children in a trailer house that caught on fire last year, killing all but one. The trial was set to begin Thursday, but a judge delayed it until May 10 on a prosecutors' request.
"I think the parents of those children should be prosecuted and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Chiles said. "It is most certainly neglect on their part in leaving their children there."
A number of other conditions have made dealing effectively with offenders more complicated. Lawmakers have required that all cases be tried within 270 days of a suspect's arraignment, a time limit Chiles says is too short considering the 1,200 or more cases that come into the Fourth Circuit every year.
"For that reason, plea bargaining is a necessary evil," she said.
Chiles supports the alternative sentencing methods, including a diversion program and drug court, that the district attorney's office has established in recent years. But at times, they tend to distract prosecutors from their role, she said.
"I don't mind trying to help, but we have too many cases to act as social workers for people who have committed crimes," she said.
Chiles called for more collaboration between law enforcement and the district attorney's office. Too often, one side fails to do a thorough job, she said. "We have all got to act like professionals."
