Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman delivers his annual address yesterday at the Court of Appeals in Albany.
Tim Roske
ALBANY - Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman yesterday called for a "top to bottom" overhaul of making bail determinations that not only protects public safety but is fair to low-income defendants waiting for their cases to be adjudicated.
Lippman told judges, elected officials and lawyers gathered at the Court of Appeals for his 2013 State of the Judiciary message that a "coherent, rational approach" is needed for a "vitally important part of the criminal justice system that has been untouched by reform."
The chief judge urged passage of an amendment to the bail statute that would allow judges to consider the risk that defendants will commit additional offenses while awaiting trial in addition to the risk that they will not appear in court.
Read the full text of the chief judge's remarks.
At the same time, he called for the creation of a statutory presumption to make clear that where defendants are charged with non-violent offenses they will be released pretrial with the least restrictive requirements possible unless prosecutors demonstrate they poses a legitimate risk to public safety or of flight.
"Our overriding goal must be to ensure that pretrial detention is reserved only for those defendants who cannot safely be released or who cannot be relied upon to return to court—and to do all we can to eliminate the risk that New Yorkers are incarcerated simply because they lack the financial means to make bail," Lippman said.
He also proposed the expansion of supervised release programs that monitor defendants pretrial and provide them with needed services. He noted that the cost of such programs is between $3,100 and $4,600 per defendant, compared to $19,000 for pretrial detention. Nearly 30,000 people are held in local jails at any given moment, the chief judge added.
In an interview after the speech, the chief judge and Judge Lawrence Marks, the first deputy administrative judge of the state courts, said it was unknown how many defendants would qualify for pretrial release under the proposal.
But Lippman said one ramification is clear: If his proposals are enacted, the bail bond industry in New York would be "basically irrelevant."
"It's a travesty that judges, prosecutors, don't make decisions about a person's liberty, that they're made on the basis of a profit-making money enterprise," Lippman said. "That that's the person who has in many instances the critical role in determining a person's liberty is outrageous. This is not something we can be proud of."
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Avon
The previous commenter has a bit of homework to do!
- Better read the US Constitution before proposing that anyone charged with a violent crime be automatically denied bail. We had a Revolution against the tyranny of a kingdom that presumed folks guilty til proven innocent. Let's not go there now.
- Better read the NY Constitution before proposing that the Chief Judge dictate laws about police procedure. (I personally doubt that Lippman would be silent for even two seconds if a case on videotaping all interrogations and police stops actually did come before the Court.)
- And we'd all probably better read the proposal that "'low-cost' guidance from qualified non-attorneys on simpler legal matters" be allowed. Guidance on simple matters is not necessarily legal advice. Helping someone do the Small Claims Court process is pretty common, and there ought to be more help like that out there. Let's see what the plan is before we decide how wrong it is, or isn't!
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Michael
Great...so now, in addition to the 'numerous arrests as a juevenile' we get to read about career criminals, we get the joy of having even more career criminals ROR'd or released with little bail? Guess it would make too much sense to simply say, anyone charged with a violent crime will not be afforded bail? And now, non-attorneys can give legal advice? Makes as much sense as requiring pro bono work, from students who aren't even attorneys yet. Lawyers protecting each other....even when they are old-as-dirt judges. Amazing how SILENT Judge Limpman has been on videotaping ALL INTERROGATIONS and utilizing DASH CAMS in police cars (guess irrefutable proof of guilt/innocence would take a lot of money from judicial coffers, huh?). At least his genius arse called the extra-judicial interviews in Queens Central Booking unconstitutional...oh wait, he didn't do that either. Seems these dopey judges prefer endangering the citizenry, with all the loopholes and tricks they are using to release EVEN MORE CAREER CRIMINALS back onto the streets. Bet if they lived next to the Judge, he would not do such inanity.
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