Quantcast
Channel: jonathan_lippman
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 11

De Blasio Presses for State Criminal Justice Reforms In Wake of NYPD Death

0
0

New York City’s leading progressive is talking tough on crime. Mayor Bill de Blasio revived a proposal for criminal-justice reform on Friday that would allow judges to consider the risk to public safety when setting bail or considering diversion programs.

The move comes just three days after the death of Police Officer Rudolph Holder, allegedly shot by a convicted felon who had skipped out on a court ordered treatment program.

De Blasio has said repeatedly that the suspect in the case, Tyrone Howard, should not have been on the streets, calling him a “hardened, violent criminal.”

Howard, 30, has a history of arrests dating to the age of 14. He committed a robbery as a juvenile and was suspected of a shooting in 2009, but was never been convicted of a violent crime as an adult.

Still, de Blasio said judges have to consider the entire record.

“Some people are irredeemable,” said de Blasio. “I'm a progressive person. I'm a humanitarian. But I'll tell you, some people are irredeemable.”

Under current state law, judges can only base bail decisions on whether a defendant is a flight risk. De Blasio, joined by City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and other elected officials, wants to allow judges to consider public safety, too.

New York is one of only three states where that's not already the case. The others are Missouri and Mississippi.

The state’s Chief Judge Jonathan Lippmann originally proposed the change in 2013 and supports de Blasio’s call for reform.

“It is tragic that it takes these horrific incidents to put a human face on these issues,” Lippmann told WNYC.

Civil liberties advocates oppose the changes.

“People are redeemable,” said Joshua Norkin, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society in Manhattan. He stressed that defendants are entitled to the presumption of innocence.

“What Mr. de Blasio should know is that jail is not the place to redeem those people,” Norkin said. “Staring into the future through some mirror ball and trying to guess who might do what next is very tricky territory.”

But de Blasio also believes that the bail system needs to be reformed on the other side of the equation. He has said that so long as low-level, non-violent offenders have not been repeatedly arrested and aren't harming their communities through drug dealing, they should not be kept locked up only because they cannot afford bail.

Howard, the defendant accused of killing the police officer, was able to make $35,000 bail for a drug charge in 2014. He was on the streets because two judges approved a drug treatment program as an alternative to jail.

The mayor said state law should require judges to take public safety into account in those decisions as well.

The proposed legislation would require support from state lawmakers, a notoriously troubled spot for the mayor. De Blasio said those conversations are just beginning.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office had no comment.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 11

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images