Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo plans to ask the New York State
Legislature to eliminate cash bail for many crimes and to speed up the
disclosure of evidence in trials as part of a package of proposals intended
make the criminal justice system fairer for indigent defendants, reported the New York Times.
The governor plans to outline the proposals in
his State of the State address, as lawmakers convene in Albany and prepare to
take up a legislative agenda that is expected to focus not only on criminal
justice but also on the environment and education as well.
In addition to revamping the bail and evidence laws, the
package of criminal justice bills would aim to reduce delays during trials, ban
asset seizures in cases where there has been no conviction and make it easier
for former convicts to get a job after leaving prison.
Governor Cuomo, a Democrat with presidential aspirations, is
promoting the bills as “the most progressive set of reforms in the nation,” his
aides said. “For far too long, our antiquated criminal justice system has
created a two-tier system where outcomes depend purely on economic status —
undermining the bedrock principle that one is innocent until proven guilty,”
Mr. Cuomo said in statement outlining the proposals.
Political momentum to abolish or limit the use of monetary
bail has been building across the country in recent years, as critics have
pointed out it discriminates against people who cannot pay. In New
Jersey, a
law went into effect last year that has nearly eliminated cash bail by
mandating that state judges release most defendants unless they are a proven
flight risk or threat to public safety.
The governor’s proposals are likely to meet opposition from
police unions, the bail bond industry, district attorneys and Republican
lawmakers who control the Senate. The fate of the bills is far from clear in
the legislative session and may depend on what incentives Mr. Cuomo can offer
to the Republican opponents.
Taken together, the proposed bills address several aspects
of the criminal justice system critics have long decried as unfair to the poor,
chief among them the state’s cash bail system and its restrictive discovery
law, which allows prosecutors to withhold important evidence against a
defendant until the eve of trial.
These laws give a tremendous advantage to the police and
prosecutors and, in effect, discriminate against defendants with few resources,
who disproportionately are black or Hispanic, defense lawyers say. Impoverished
people are often unable to pay the bail set by judges in their cases and spend
months or years in jail, unable to help with their defenses, and without
knowing the strength of the case against them, defense lawyers say. Many accept
plea bargains just to end the ordeal.
The measure that Governor Cuomo is proposing would eliminate
cash bail for people facing misdemeanor and nonviolent felonies. Instead
defendants would be released, either on their own promise to return to court,
or with some other conditions imposed by the judge.
Judges could still impose bail for serious violent crimes,
like felony assault or rape, but only after reviewing a defendant’s finances.
At the same time, a second bill would loosen the state’s
restrictive laws regarding when and how prosecutors must turn over their
evidence to the defense, known as “discovery.”
Currently prosecutors can withhold some key evidence until
the eve of trial, including the criminal histories of the state’s witnesses and
the statements they have made to the grand jury and to law enforcement. The
defense also must disclose the evidence it plans to present before trial,
though in most criminal trials, most of the evidence is presented by the
prosecution.
The governor’s proposal would compel the prosecution and the
defense to share information earlier in the process, including the identity and
background of witnesses. It would set deadlines for the state to turn over police
reports and other evidence, in stages, within three months of the day a person
is arraigned on charges, Mr. Cuomo’s aides said.
This provision will most likely face resistance from
prosecutors, who have long argued witnesses to violent crimes are put in danger
if their identities are turned over too quickly to the defense.
Mr. Cuomo also plans to introduce a bill aimed at another
stubborn problem in the justice system: constant delays in bringing a person to
trial that often make a mockery of the speedy trial provisions in state law and
the United States Constitution.
Those delays often happen when prosecutors and defense
lawyers fail to get ready for trial on time and agree to postpone the case and
suspend speedy trial requirements.
That problem was brought into sharp focus by the case of
Kalief Browder, a teenager who spent three years jailed on Rikers Island
awaiting trial on a robbery charge. His case was delayed repeatedly, until the
charges were finally dropped after prosecutors could not locate the
accuser. Mr. Browdercommitted suicide after his release.
A similar effort to overhaul the bail law died in the
Legislature in 2013, despite the support of the state’s chief judge, Jonathan
Lippman. That bill would have let judges consider public safety when making
decisions about bail. It drew criticism not only from Senate Republicans, who
worried about appearing soft on crime, but also from Democrats who thought it
would give judges too much leeway to jail people on the subjective ground that
they were “dangerous.”
Still, Mr. Cuomo’s aides think public opinion has shifted in
the last five years, as federal
courts have begun to question whether cash bail is constitutional and
numerous studies have cast doubt on whether bail is the best way to ensure
people show up to court.
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