STATEMENT FROM THE CHIEF DEFENDERS ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK
ON CALLS FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT TO DELAY CRITICAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORMS
(Albany, NY) - The Chief Defenders Association of New York –
an organization representing the heads of public defender officers in counties
across the state – released the following statement on calls by certain
prosecutors and sheriffs to delay justice for New Yorkers by placing a
moratorium on new bail, discovery, and speedy trial laws, which are set to take
effect on January 1, 2020:
“Earlier this year, New York took a giant leap forward for
fairness, public safety, and fiscal responsibility by enacting new bail,
discovery, and speedy trial laws. No longer will defendants be starved of
critical evidence in their cases, which has fueled wrongful convictions and
cost taxpayers millions in civil settlements. No longer will our bail laws
allow the wealthy to go free pretrial while people in poverty are jailed for
the exact same charges. As defenders, we have been appalled as countless people
have been forced to plead guilty, regardless of guilt or innocence, to get out
of jail. It’s unfortunate that, when faced with the choice of doing right by
New Yorkers or working to protect their own unfair tactical advantages in
court, certain District Attorneys and Sheriffs have chosen the latter. What
makes this especially unacceptable is that they are using taxpayer resources to
mislead and spread baseless fear in our communities rather than working to implement
the new laws that New Yorkers overwhelmingly support.”
Background:
New Yorkers across the state are regularly jailed pretrial
due to poverty. This injustice is more common upstate and in other parts of New
York State outside New York City. In 2018, bail was set in 42% of non-NYC cases
and 25% of NYC cases. A total of approximately 15,000 people across the state
are currently jailed pre-trial, or 59% of the total jail population. Statistics
show that pre-trial detention negatively impacts public safety, denies equal
justice, and wastes taxpayer funds.
Community Safety: Studies show that brief periods in
pretrial detention can actually increase the likelihood that a person will be
rearrested, likely because they worsen the root drivers of harm and crime:
poverty, trauma, housing instability, unmet mental health and health needs and untreated
substance use disorder. Decades of data and experience show us that
decarceration can come with improved public safety.
Distortion of Justice: Statistics show that pre-trial
detention distorts justice and contributes to mass incarceration by empowering
the prosecutors to coerce guilty pleas, regardless of guilt or innocence. A
summary of analyses included in a 2015 report by the VERA Institute of Justice found
defendants jailed before trial were far more likely to accept harsher plea
deals and receive prison or jail sentences. Of all those who receive prison and
jail sentences, people who were incarcerated pre-trial received sentences that
were, on average, two to three times longer than those who were released pending trial. The Bureau of Justice
Assistance, a division of the U.S. Department of Justice, has found that
“[t]hose who are taken into custody are more likely to accept a plea and are
less likely to have their charges dropped.”
Costs of Pretrial Incarceration: It is not only more
harmful, but also more expensive to incarcerate people than to provide services
to meet their needs. Orange County spent $116,251,258 million on the county
jail alone in 2019. This amounts to $167,268 per detained person per year or
$458 per person per day. This is funding that could instead be allocated to housing,
economic development, education or healthcare.
Pretrial Jailing is Increasing Counties Like in Orange
County: While overall incarceration rates in New York State have plummeted,
pre-trial jailing has increased 24% in Orange County, and constitutes fully
two-thirds of people locked in the county jail, excluding immigrant detained
through a federal contract with ICE. Many other upstate counties have
experienced similar increases.
Appearance Rates: Data from charitable bail funds across the
state also demonstrates that bail is not necessary to ensure that people
released pretrial return to court. Roughly 95% of the people whose bail was
paid by a community bail fund — from Kings to Columbia to Suffolk to Tompkins
and Onondaga counties — returned for all of their court dates, despite having
no financial “skin in the game.” The Brooklyn Community Bail Fund paid bail for
nearly 5,000 people who would otherwise have been jailed for their poverty and,
in many cases, coerced to plead guilty, regardless of guilt or innocence, just
to get free. Instead, they were free to fight their cases while at liberty.
BCBF clients were three times as likely to have favorable case outcomes. That
means fewer lives and families derailed by incarceration and criminal records.
That means far greater chances at positive outcomes in education, employment,
housing, and health. This is achieved through support, not punitive measures.
Bail funds provide court reminders and help connect people to needed social
services.
Harm of incarceration: Pretrial jailing imposes a
wide range of devastating costs on New York’s families and communities. These
costs begin with the need to post bail or pay for someone’s release from jail
after their arrest. When they cannot afford bail, it costs families to stay in
contact with their loved ones as they have to pay exorbitant rates for phone
calls and transportation to visit. On top of these direct costs, families lose
income, child support, and other financial contributions when a wage-earner is
incarcerated. Finally, incarceration also takes a toll on family members’
physical and mental health, education outcomes, and other measures of well-being.
Even one day in jail can totally derail a person’s life. They can lose their
jobs and housing. The state may take their children away.
Jail conditions pose a serious, and too often deadly, threat
to incarcerated people. The New York State Commission of Correction found that
in six different deaths across five different New York county jails, there were
“egregious lapses in medical care.” Perhaps the best-known story of the
trauma caused by pretrial jailing is that of Kalief Browder,
who took his own life after being jailed for three years as an innocent
teenager on Rikers Island. There is an epidemic of jail deaths in Broome
County. In addition, at least 30 people have died in Erie County’s jail since
2005. At least 372 people have died in New York City jails since 2001. Efforts
to protect public safety must also address the acute and grave risk that
incarceration poses to the safety and well-being of the tens of thousands of
New Yorkers locked inside. People in pre-trial detention are regularly locked
in solitary confinement for months and even years. Ample research and accounts
from survivors of solitary affirm that this practice causes serious and lasting
psychological and physical harm.
Solution: Thankfully, our legislature and Governor
took action to address this injustice. They responded to the call of the
community and passed the new pretrial laws so that all people – not just
relatively wealthy people – accused of misdemeanors and non-violent felonies
can fight their cases while at liberty, with their families and communities and
support networks, though with some degree of community supervision if needed.
