Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
03
PRISONERS
DILEMMA
How NYC’s bail system
puts justice on hold
Every year New York City
detains thousands of people who
are presumed innocent. They
are pretrial detainees. They are
the majority in city jails. And
most of them are behind bars
not because they are dangerous,
but because they could not
afford bail. They await trial away
right.”
Photo: JM
By Jarrett Murphy
Freedom (among other things) for sale off 161st Street in the Bronx, a few steps from the borough’s criminal courthouse. Photo: JM
Statement of Ownership Management and Circulation Required 39 U.S.C. 3685: Title of Publication: City Limits. Publication Number: 498890. Date of filing: Sep-
tember 2007. Issue Frequency: Quarterly; Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. Number of issues published annually: 4. Annual Subscription Price: $25 individual/$50
organizational. Complete Mailing Address of Publication: 120 Wall Street, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10005. Complete Mailing Address of Publisher: City Futures,
Inc, 120 Wall Street 20th Floor, New York, NY 10005. Publisher: Andrew Breslau Editor: Jarrett Murphy Owner: City Futures, Inc., 120 Wall Street, 20th Floor, New
York, NY 10005. Known bondholders, mortgages or securities: None. The purpose, function and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for
federal income tax purposes has not changed during preceding 12 months. Extent and nature of circulation: Total average number of copies: 3036 (2752 closest to
filing date). Paid/Requested Circulation: 1684 (1487 closest to filing). Paid Distribution by Other Classes of Mail through the USPS: 62 (123 closest to filing). Total
paid and/or requested circulation: 1746 (1610 closest to filing). Free distribution by mail: 1190 (942 closest to filing). Free distribution outside the mail: 100 (200
closest to filing). Total free distribution: 1290 (1142 closest to filing). Total distribution: 3036 (2752 closest to filing). Copies not distributed: 2964 (3248 closest to fil-
ing). Total: 6000 (6000 closest to filing). Percent paid and/or requested circulation 58% (59% closest to filing). I certify that the statements made by me are correct
and complete: Andrew Breslau, Executive Director.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE FALL 2007 VOL. 31 NO. 02
“Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punish-
ments inflicted.” —The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution
—Andy Breslau,
Publisher
City Limits Investigates is published quarterly Subscriptions to City Limits Investigates are
(Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter) by City Futures, provided with a one-year $50 donation to City
Inc., 120 Wall Street–fl. 20, New York, NY 10005, Futures for individuals, nonprofits and community City Limits Staff
a nonprofit organization devoted to rethinking, groups. Supporters will also receive our e-mail Jarrett Murphy
reframing and improving urban policies in New publications and reports from the Center for an
York City and, by extension, other cities throughout Urban Future. As a 501(c)(3), a portion of your
Investigations Editor
America. For features, news updates and analysis, donation is tax deductible. To join and for more Karen Loew
events and jobs of interest to people working in information, e-mail support@citylimits.org. Web and Weekly Editor
New York City’s nonprofit and policymaking world, Businesses, foundations, banks, government agencies
sign up for the free City Limits Weekly on our web- and libraries can subscribe at a rate of $50 for one year. City Futures Staff
site at www.citylimits.org. To subscribe, e-mail subscribe@citylimits.org. Andy Breslau
City Futures is also home to Center for an Urban We welcome letters, articles, ideas and submissions. Executive Director/Publisher
Future (www.nycfuture.org), a think tank dedicated Please send to investigates@citylimits.org.
to independent, fact-based research about critical Jennifer Gootman
issues affecting New York’s future. Postmaster: Please send address changes to: Deputy Director
City Limits
General support for City Futures has been provided
120 Wall Street–fl. 20 | New York, NY 10005 Ahmad Dowla
by Bernard F. and Alva B. Gimbel Foundation, Booth Administrative Assistant
Ferris Foundation, Deutsche Bank, The F.B. Heron T: (212) 479-3344 | F: (212) 479-3338
Foundation, Fund for the City of New York, The M&T E: investigates@citylimits.org
city futures
Charitable Foundation, Rockefeller Philanthropy Cover image: Police lead a group of defendants into
Advisors, The Scherman Foundation, Inc., and Unitar- Kings County Criminal Court for their arraignment. Board of Directors:
ian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock. Photo: JM Michael Connor, Russell Dubner,
Additional funding for City Limits projects has been Design by C. Jerome, Design Confederation Ken Emerson, Marc Jahr, David Lebenstein,
provided by the Ira W. DeCamp Foundation, New Copyright © 2007. All Rights Reserved. No portion or Gail O. Mellow, Lisette Nieves, Andrew Reicher,
York Community Trust and Robert Sterling Clark portions of this journal may be reprinted without the Ira Rubenstein, John Siegal, Karen Trella,
Foundation. express permission of the publishers. City Limits is Peter Williams, Mark Winston Griffith
Periodical postage paid indexed in the Alternative Press Index and the Avery
New York, NY 10001 Index to Architectural Periodicals and is available on
City Limits (USPS 498-890) (ISSN 0199-0330) www.CITYLIMITS.ORG
microfilm from ProQuest, Ann Arbor, MI 48106.
City Limits Investigates
by jarrett murphy
Awaiting
Justice
The punishing price of
NYC’s bail system
repair school in Queens were taking a the judge set bail at $1,500. A guy who
smoke break and the police rolled up. turned down an offer of pleading guilty
A search of the friend’s car found some to a count of diverting prescription
marijuana. Eric says it wasn’t his. The medications and being sentenced to the
friend says it wasn’t Eric’s. The court- time he had already served had bail set
appointed lawyer who met Eric a few at $1,500. Upstairs the inscription in the
minutes before his arraignment told lobby quoted Disraeli: “Justice is truth
him the police report did not allege that in action.” Down below in arraignment
Eric had any drugs on him, and advised court, the price of freedom was some-
his client to fight the charge. where between $500 and $50,000—cash
But outside the lock-up, through the or bond.
Justinian’s words adorn Manhattan’s main door and in Judge Ira Margulis’ court As any good lawyer would, Eric’s de-
criminal courthouse. Photo: JM
room, many of those who were choos- fender laid out the stakes for his client.
ing to fight their relatively minor charg- If Eric said he was guilty, he’d probably
I. The plea es were facing the prospect of doing so be sentenced only to the time he had
In a basement in Queens on a gleaming behind bars. Sure, the judge was letting already served since his arrest a day
July morning, the New York City crimi- a good number of people out before tri- earlier. If he professed his innocence, it
nal justice system turned its attention al, ordering “release on recognizance,” was likely bail would be set, and if Eric
to one Eric T. This article won’t use his but in many cases he was setting bail, were unable to pay it, that could mean
last name because Eric says he lied to whether the charge was a felony or a staying in jail until his next court date,
the judge when he made his plea—a misdemeanor. The bails were for the five days away. In other words, saying
plea of guilty. most part relatively small—$500 here, he did nothing wrong would earn him
The charge was possession of mari- $1,500 there—but even that was too more jail time than if he claimed he’d
juana. It was not the first time Eric had high for some to meet. One mother told broken the law.
faced a drug charge, but he says he had her son’s public defender that she could With work, school and a family to
been out of trouble for a decade, until afford perhaps $200 to get him out on a think about, Eric couldn’t do that kind
the evening this summer when Eric misdemeanor drug possession charge; of time. His lawyer told the judge Eric
and a fellow student at their automotive the prosecutor asked for $3,500, and wanted to plead guilty, and Margulis
FALL 2007
The lockup at Queens Criminal Court on Queens Boulevard. To prevent escape, there’s razor wire even on the vents on upper floors. Photo: JM
City Limits Investigates
FALL 2007
City Limits Investigates
80%
The Waiting
pretrial detainees as a share of nyc inmates
Room
The city’s jail system consists of nine
facilities on Rikers Island as well as
70% the Manhattan Detention Complex and
the Vernon C. Bain barge docked off
the Bronx. Those in custody include
people sentenced to a year or less in
jail, those sentenced to longer stints
who are awaiting transfer to a state
facility and defendants who have yet to
be tried. Nowadays, pretrial detainees
are taking up more room than in the
60%
past two decades.
'87 '89 '91 '93 '95 '97 '99 '01 '03 '05 '07 Source: Mayor’s Management Reports, 1987-2007.
violations like disorderly conduct. Peo- in the criminal court building just up the brought to the precinct and then to the
ple who get arrested today are likely to street from Yankee Stadium. In Manhat- lockup at the borough courthouse to
be accused of more minor crimes but tan and Brooklyn, as in the Bronx, there await arraignment, which state courts
face penalties for a conviction that go are two arraignment courtrooms run- have said is supposed to occur within
well beyond prison or probation. Bail ning each day. All boroughs but Staten 24 hours of the arrest. The police who
can hasten those convictions regard- Island offer night court as well; Manhat- work in arraignment court don’t carry
less of guilt or innocence. tan devotes two judges to it. The arraign- firearms because they walk in and out
In other words, bail matters. If bails ment courtrooms—usually staffed with of the lockup where weapons are not
are being set too high, or bail is being a rotation of judges—range in dimen- permitted. Many wear black baseball
set in too many low-level cases against sion from a tiny classroom-sized space batting gloves in case they need to han-
people who can’t afford even low bail, in the Bronx courthouse basement to dle somebody.
taxpayers, defendants and justice will a large theater-like room at 100 Centre An armed New York State court offi-
suffer. Street in Manhattan. The main arraign- cer runs each arraignment courtroom,
But while civil liberties activists cri- ment “part” (as they call it) in Brooklyn doubling as chief guard and court clerk.
tique police methods that lead to arrest has a kind of dingy grandeur, while its Assisted by three or four other court of-
and social policy advocates denounce counterpart in Queens is all dark wood ficers, he or she calls the docket (“Dock-
the difficulties facing people getting paneling and crisp marble. Each room et ending 343. Doe, John. Defendant is
out of prison, bail—a middle-ground has “In God We Trust” inscribed above charged with violating section 178.20
between freedom and guilt—gets little the judge’s chair. The arraignment of the penal law and related charges.”)
scrutiny, even though it makes a deep process is essentially the same in any and the defendant steps into the court-
mark on the criminal justice system in city courthouse. room. He usually isn’t handcuffed but is
courtrooms in each borough every day. That process really begins on the required to stand with his hands clasped
street. Not every encounter with the behind his back. In some courtrooms,
NYPD ends in arraignment, of course— the next defendants wait on benches off
II. Making bail officers can issue summonses for mi- to the side. They are overwhelmingly
Almost every hour of every weekday, nor infractions, and Desk Appearance black and Hispanic.
someone is being arraigned somewhere Tickets (which are technically arrests The assistant district attorneys
in New York City. When most people are but allow a defendant to stay free until (ADAs) who work arraignments tend
at work, arraignments are underway on his first court date) can be written for to be young, but already many have de-
Targee Street in a worn-looking section crimes up to and including Class E felo- veloped smooth ways to say the same
of Staten Island’s Stapleton neighbor- nies like “forgery of a vehicle identifica- things over and over again without
hood, in the basement courtroom on tion number.” But if the police take a sounding bored by their own words.
Queens Boulevard, and in two chambers person into custody, he or she is usually First, the ADA hands over any notices
FALL 2007
City Limits Investigates
Using a point system, the CJA interviewer then generates a score for
each defendant. That score translates into a recommendation that CJA
gives to the judge. Some defendants are recommended for release on their
own recognizance (ROR). Some are dubbed to be a “moderate risk” of fail-
ing to appear in court, while others are deemed “high risk.” For a few, how-
ever, CJA makes no recommendation at all as a matter of policy—a policy
that is in some ways the work of David Berkowitz, a.k.a. Son of Sam.
On the morning of August 11, 1977, a few hours after he was arrested
and as he awaited his arraignment in Brooklyn, Berkowitz met with a
CJA interviewer named Harold Raines. The killer gave his name, nickname
(“Son of Sam”), place of work (Bronx General Post Office at 149th Street)
and home address. He said—truthfully—that he had never been arrested
before, had never skipped a court date, wasn’t on parole or probation.
When the interview was done, Raines followed procedure and stamped
Berkowitz’s form “Recommended for ROR Based on NON-Verified Com-
munity Ties.”
Understandably, the judge rejected that recommendation and sent
Berkowitz—who had admitted to killing six people and wounding sev-
The Post’s Son of Sam slam on the CJA. Image: New York Post eral others in a year-long spree of violence—for psychiatric screening be-
hind bars. When the story of the CJA recommendation leaked, there was
Stung by Sam an uproar. On August 19, the same day it endorsed Ed Koch for mayor on
its front page, the New York Post headline was “Sam Bail Row.” Mayor
.44-caliber bail reform Abe Beame said it made him wonder “whether judges, confronted with
busy courtroom calendars, are accepting recommendations that permit
The New York City Criminal Justice Agency (CJA) is a private, nonprofit dangerous criminals to walk the streets on little or no bail.” Then-Deputy
organization that contracts with the City of New York to provide infor- Mayor Nicholas Scoppetta (the present-day fire commissioner), told re-
mation to judges on whether criminal defendants are likely to appear in porters, “According to [CJA’s] procedures, they did what they normally do.
court if they are released before trial. An outgrowth of the city’s 1960s But, following their procedures, they achieved an absurd result.”
bail reform movement, CJA interviewers question defendants awaiting Immediately, the head of the CJA—which had been operating with
arraignment about their ties to the community, and check their rap sheets little fanfare in city courts for 16 years—said the agency would no longer
for indications of other open cases or a history of “bench warrants,” make recommendations in homicide cases, although it would give judges
which are what judges issue when somebody misses a court date. information on the defendant. That policy stands to this day. —JM
she is filing—like a demand for alibi, defendant’s] court attendance when the wording of the criminal complaint.
an advisory about looming grand jury necessary,” and lists elements that the He might point out the defendant’s fa-
action, or a transcript of something the judge can consider in setting that de- ther or wife in the audience. Often, he
defendant foolishly told the police (like gree of control, from the defendant’s will tell the judge that his client simply
the guy in the Bronx who allegedly said ties to the community—which might cannot pay a bail as high as the prosecu-
to his arresting officers, “Fuck you. prevent him from fleeing—to the seri- tion wants, or any bail at all.
Fuck this. I already got a summons. ousness of the crime. A more serious The judge, prosecutor and defense
Fuck America.”) Or, in some cases, she crime can mean more prison time, and attorney each have in front of them a
will make an offer, suggesting the de- therefore more incentive to go on the report from the New York City Criminal
fendant plead guilty and do three days lam. In rare cases, the prosecutor will Justice Agency (CJA), a private nonprof-
of community service, for example. ask for remand, which means the per- it entity that has a city contract to inter-
If the offer is turned down—or none son is jailed without bail. In a few oth- view all criminal court defendants and
is made in the first place—the ADA will ers, the prosecutor might consent to make recommendations on whether to
usually say, “As to bail, your honor,” and the defendant’s pretrial release with- release them on their own recognizance,
announce how much she wants and why. out bail. or “ROR” in court jargon. CJA’s inter-
The framework for that request is When the defense attorney gets to viewers—there are 96 citywide—meet
section 510.30 of the New York Crimi- talk, he usually asks for his client’s re- defendants in courthouse lockups and
nal Procedure Law, which says that in lease, or at least a “more reasonable conduct brief interviews, asking ques-
setting bail, “the court must consider bail” than the prosecution requested. tions like whether they are working, if
the kind and degree of control or re- The defense lawyer might question the they have a phone and whether they
striction that is necessary to secure [a reason for the police search or critique expect someone to show up for them
FALL 2007
City Limits Investigates
E
With the Petition of Right in 1628 and the
ven if you’ve got the cash, paying Habeas Corpus Act of 1677, respectively, fur- 1994 tune “Out On Bail.” And while some cur-
rent legislative proposals would reduce access
bail in New York is not easy. Fami- ther modifications were made by the British
Parliament to curb the detention of suspects to bail, some experts predict an increased reli-
lies who show up at arraignment court ance upon pretrial release alternatives in the
with money in hand can be seen racing before trial “without due cause.” None of
those provisions, however, established bail as future. “Jails are overcrowded and it’s proving
to pay the court cashier before the de- too expensive to keep people there on lesser
a universal right. Nevertheless, the English Bill
fendant is trucked back to Rikers Island, offenses,” says Floyd Feeney, professor of law
of Rights of 1689 condemned “excessive bail”
the Vernon C. Bain jail barge docked off at the University of California at Davis. “It isn’t
in criminal cases. Like many other English le-
the Bronx or the Manhattan Detention gal measures, this phrase was later adopted by practical.” —Curtis Stephen
Complex. Bail can be posted at any jail
for an inmate held anywhere in the city.
FALL 2007
The courthouse at 100 Centre Street in Manhattan
runs two arraignment parts each day and night to
0deal with the volume of defendants. Photo: JM
City Limits Investigates
But lawyers tell anecdotes about long nal defendants who have bail set do Neighborhood Defender Service of Har-
waits to spring somebody. “If they bring not post bail before their case is com- lem. “$500 is enough to keep our clients
them to Rikers, then it takes hours and pleted by plea, dismissal or trial. More in indefinitely.”
hours to get out,” says Stephen Mahler, than a third of those with bails less than That might be no big deal if those
a criminal defense attorney whose best- $500 never make it, nor do 42 percent low-level defendants were headed to
known client, City Councilmember Den- of those with bails between $500 and jail anyway after conviction. But half
nis Gallagher, had to pay $200,000 to be $1,000. Defendants in some boroughs of them weren’t, according to a CJA
released pending trial on rape charges, have a harder time making bail than study that found almost a quarter of
despite having no criminal record and others: In the Bronx, about half of those non-felony detainees were acquitted,
community ties sufficient to get him with bails less than $1,000 were kept in and another 24 percent received a non-
elected to public office. for the duration of their cases. Some re- jail sentence. So their lack of money,
When a family needs a bail bond,
a quarter of non-felony
there’s a different burden to be borne.
When her brother was brought before
FALL 2007 11
City Limits Investigates
Ripped from
show as in real life, allows us to talk about your house, if there were eyewitnesses.
the strength of the case. If we need a dramatic But we’re going to know only from you
arraignments
twist, we can diminish the strength of the case regarding your family ties, your employ-
against the defendant and raise the possibility
ment, your financial means, whether
that he will escape.”
you have a phone or not. All that comes
Bail ‘Law & Order’ style The “Law & Order” bail scenes move a bit
from the defendant,” he says. “The most
faster than authentic arraignments and strip
From one end of the buzzing courtroom a clerk out much of the legal jargon. “What happens difficult things you are going to do as a
belts out, “Docket ending 323430, the people in five minutes on ‘Law & Order’ probably prosecutor is select jurors and come up
versus John David Myers, murder in the second takes five years in real life,” says Suzanne with an articulate reason for making a
degree.” Everyone in the courtroom recogniz- O’Malley, who has written several episodes. request for bail,” Donovan adds. “This
es the name: The guy is a big-time Broadway The writers try to avoid too much repetition of is not a science. This is an art. This is
composer. Now he’s in a jam because of the what the viewers already learned. Fordes says: a feel. If some young assistant were to
young woman found in his apartment slain by “It can be colossally boring.”
repeated stab wounds. say, ‘We have a weak case, let’s set high
So what are the motivations for McCoy’s bail,’ an experienced judge is going to
“I assume your client can make substantial bail requests: Getting the defendant to show
bail,” Judge Elizabeth Mizener, who admits to just laugh.”
up in court, protecting public safety or squeez-
once having been a fan of Myers, says to the Donovan’s assistants must get bail
ing the accused into a plea deal? “All three,”
defendant’s lawyer. But the assistant district says Fordes. “Obviously, if someone is rotting
requests approved in advance by a su-
attorney jumps in. “We’re not consenting to in jail, you have more leverage on them than pervisor. In Manhattan, “we don’t have
bail, judge,” proclaims ADA Serena Sutherlyn. if they’re sitting in their townhouse on 15th formal guidelines on what people ask
“The people request remand.” Street enjoying a martini.” (Tell that to Char- for bail,” says James Kindler, the chief
“His face is recognized all over the world! lotte Swan, lawyer for Dr. Charles Blanchard, assistant district attorney, although he
Where’s he gonna go?” asks Lisa Cutler, the accused of infecting his former lover with SARS, adds that, “normally we wouldn’t ask for
defense lawyer, incredulously. Up steps the who in the episode “Patient Zero” tells Suther- bail on a minor offense unless someone
composer’s psychiatrist. “Mr. Myers is heavily lyn, “Guilty pleas are only for the guilty.”) has a significant criminal record.” In the
medicated. He can’t function –” Bail can have a major effect on real life cas-
“He confessed to brutally slaughtering a Bronx, bail gets covered in the three-
es. Do the outcomes of the bail hearings mat- week training course that assistant
woman he just met!” Sutherlyn interjects. ter on the show? “It depends on the episode,”
Mizener had heard enough: “I’m remanding district attorneys complete before they
says O’Malley. “In the end a great percentage
the defendant.” enter the courtroom. “Obviously, even
of the time our guys win because that’s how
Then the scene shifted to the office of Chief the audience likes it.” Waterston has told with guidelines it takes some experience
Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy (played O’Malley of a time he got into a cab only to be to get it right,” Bronx District Attorney
by Sam Waterston) for a little snippy dialogue berated by the driver for losing a case. “Fans of Robert Johnson says, “but essentially,
among the psychiatrist and the lawyers— the show really do get on him,” she says. you’re starting off with the statute and
standard fare for the 17 years during which As the show moves into season 18, the bail then you’re assessing the strength of the
“Law & Order” has turned millions of Ameri- hearings are going to fade. “It’s sort of lost case. I think some of the most significant
cans into experienced backseat lawyers. its pop,” says Fordes. “We’re gonna get away factors are if the person has a past war-
Cling-Clang! from it a little bit.”
Most courtroom dramas don’t even men-
rant history, if a person doesn’t have ties
They can do that on TV. to the community.”
tion bail, let alone show the arraignment Cling-Clang! —JM Indeed, in more than 250 arraign-
ments that City Limits Investigates
12 FALL 2007
City Limits Investigates
A
witnessed over eight days and one long with the “In God We Trust” astronomical. There are no normal bail
night of court action spread around inscription, the assemblage of requests any more.” (The Brooklyn and
the five boroughs, prosecutors often court officers and the door to the lock- Queens district attorney’s offices de-
referred to defendants’ “extensive con- up, the scene in arraignment court- clined to comment for this story.)
tacts with the criminal justice system” rooms usually includes a battery of Defense lawyers aren’t the only ones
and any “bench warrant history.” With two or three public defenders. Most who complain about bail decisions.
hundreds of thousands of such war- work for the Legal Aid Society of New Back in Queens arraignment court
rants outstanding (see Wanted, Late York, which covers courts citywide, or the same day Eric T. made his false
and Alive, p. 25), there’s a lot of that for one of the smaller indigent defense plea, Margulis set $50,000 on Johanny
history out there. But prosecutors also organizations like The Bronx Defend- for a laptop robbery that, according to
frequently cited merely “the nature of ers, Brooklyn Defender Services and the papers initially filed by the Queens
the case” in asking for financial condi- Neighborhood Defender Service of DA, took place after he’d been arrested
tions on a person’s liberty. Harlem. Some low-income defendants for marijuana on the night in question.
Court observers can only see what a are represented by 18-B lawyers, who Then it was $50,000 on a guy accused of
prosecutor says, not what she’s thinking. are in private practice but are paid by brandishing a knife to avoid paying cab
Former prosecutors give some insight the state to accept some indigent de- fare, followed by $25,000 on an assault
to how ADAs approach the bail request. fendants’ cases. case. Yet the ADA on duty complained
“I personally formulated it by num- to a colleague, “He’s setting less than
ber,” says former Bronx Assistant Public defenders are obviously pre-
disposed to take a critical view of what half of what I ask for!”
District Attorney Jason Steinberger,
now in private practice in the city. prosecutors do. But they are not starry-
“There are certain levels that were set eyed about their clients, either. (At least
by the office and within those levels,
the district attorneys have a certain
you couldn’t say that about the Manhat-
tan Legal Aid lawyer who, watching a Staying In
Most New York City criminal
amount of discretion. I first looked at defendant exit the courtroom, muttered
defendants are released before trial
the defendant’s record. Obviously if audibly: “Fucking moron.”) From their
on their own recognizance, but in
they’re a predicate felon, then they’re vantage point, bail requests have grown 2005 more than a third—about 52,000
facing significant jail time if convicted. increasingly harsh. people—had bail set in their cases.
I looked to see if they’re on parole or “The amounts requested by the DAs A surprising number never post bail
probation,” because, if so, they could have certainly gone up, and that will and stay in jail until their case is
change depending on what judge is disposed—usually for several days but,
face a stiffer sentence and have more in one recent case, for nearly a year.
incentive to flee. working,” says Alan Gordon, a Legal Aid
Prosecutors are under considerable lawyer who has worked in Queens Crim-
pressure to get bail right, says another inal Court for 14 years. “Some of the
former Bronx ADA, Jonathan Sennett, numbers, it’s like it’s ‘Let’s see how high
A.
now a defense lawyer upstate. “If you we can get it.’ Cases where they used
made a mistake, you were account- to be asking $5,000, they’re suddenly
able for it—if it was a mistake,” he asking for these high numbers that are
recalls. “We lived with the cloud over just impossible to meet. If they’re going
D.
our heads constantly that you had to to ask for $50,000, with our clients, who B.
be on your toes because things could are poor, they might as well be asking
certainly come back to bite you in the for a remand.” But a remand would be
ass. That was always in the front of our easier for a defense lawyer to challenge
mind, that we couldn’t be sloppy with on appeal. When bail is set, a challenge
the safety of the community, or the faces a higher burden. C.
rights of the defendants. That’s always Some see the trend of higher bails as
out there.” very recent in origin. “They used to ask
Their boss is out there too. Bronx for reasonable bail. Now they’re asking
DA Johnson said in August that he’d for $10,000 and $20,000,” says Laura A. 11% Make bail at arraignment
B. 28% Make bail later
recently visited the arraignment parts Saft, a supervising attorney with Brook- C. 20% Released later
and, after observing the action, had to lyn Defender Services who has worked D. 42% Never make bail
remind his assistants that bail should in the courts for 25 years and says the
be a rarity when arraigning Desk Ap- requests have swelled noticeably in the Source: New York City Criminal Justice Agency, Annual
pearance Tickets. past year or so. “Every bail request is Report 2005. Numbers rounded.
FALL 2007 13
City Limits Investigates
If prosecutors face a tough task in ryl—accused of misdemeanor menac- police officers issued 79 percent fewer
deciding on an appropriate bail to re- ing, who had an open assault case and Desk Appearance Tickets that would
quest, defense lawyers are faced with a record of robbery and gun charges, have spared defendants from spending
an equally challenging time trying to but had made his past court dates and time behind bars awaiting arraignment.
construct a counter argument. “You came to the police station voluntarily Taken together, the numbers mean that
have these public defenders with tons of after detectives called him—and Tony, the context of the bail decision is chang-
cases, very little time to interview their who came in on misdemeanor assault ing in New York City. “What’s happening
clients,” says Robert Garcia, an attorney charges and had a long felony record is there is a shift,” says Robin Steinberg,
at Neighborhood Defender Service. “It’s in Louisiana and New York but was liv- executive director of the Bronx Defend-
very difficult to establish trust with their ing in a shelter, meaning he couldn’t ers. “Because the system is handling
client. You have very little opportunity to afford much bail at all. She set $750 on more misdemeanors, what you’re set-
learn the information, to corroborate it. both. “I’m going to set bail because I’m ting bail on are misdemeanors.” Ricardo
You have to make a few phone calls. You not sure he’s going to show up,” she Barreras, a fellow from the Soros Foun-
don’t have time for that.” said of Tony. dation studying bail in the Bronx, says
Some clients don’t offer much ammu- “At trial, you’re in an entirely different it’s like there’s a new population facing
nition for a defense lawyer’s argument, posture,” says Judge Juanita Bing New- bail decisions these days. “It’s the nature
no matter how well researched. About ton, administrative judge for New York of who’s going through the system now.
a Manhattan defendant with a lifelong City’s criminal courts. “You have all the It’s basically flipped,” he says. “The peo-
criminal record to go with his gray parties before you. The judge and/or ple who are being put through the sys-
hair, a defense lawyer could only say, the jury is going to be looking strictly tem are there on charges that weren’t
“In this last decade it’s mostly turnstile at the evidence with an eye towards being arrested or charged years ago.”
jumps. His last arrest was in 2005. He is answering a single question, which is, Misdemeanors cover a range of
a man who has matured.” Another law- ‘Does the evidence convince you that crimes, from unlawful assembly to as-
yer boasted that his client “hasn’t had a this person is guilty beyond a reasonable sault, that can carry sentences from a
drug arrest for four months.” And one doubt?’” In the bail decision at arraign- few days to a year in jail. What creates
Staten Island defendant asked Judge ment court, however, there is a crystal the most severe conflicts within the bail
Alan Meyer to be merciful by saying, “I ball aspect to what judges are supposed system are the lowest-level misdemean-
smell. I’m not doing well.” to do. They have to try to predict, based ors—the petty public order offenders
on a hint of the evidence in the case, not that the NYPD’s “quality-of-life” enforce-
just how likely it is that a person will be ment has delivered into courtrooms in
IV. Judgment calls convicted—and, if convicted, how likely increasing numbers. While “quality-of-
According to Judge Z., a veteran crimi- it is he’ll be jailed—but what the chances life” was a hallmark slogan for Mayor
nal court judge who asked not to be are that the defendant will recognize his Rudolph Giuliani, the police crackdown
named, arraignments are one of the likelihood of losing and decide to flee. on open containers, bicycles on the side-
least popular assignments among judg- Some say that making those sorts of pre- walk, and public urination has produced
es. “It can be tedious, to put it kindly. ‘Oh dictions requires relaxing—very careful- 47 percent more quality-of-life tickets in
here’s another buy-and-bust. Oh, here’s ly—the presumption of innocence. “For the past four fiscal years under Mayor
another prostitution case. This guy spat the purposes of bail, the presumption Michael Bloomberg than during his
on the sidewalk. This guy had a bottle doesn’t hold,” says New York City Bar predecessor’s final four years.
in a brown bag in the park.’ It can get Association President Barry Kamins. “A As the number of quality-of-life tick-
to that,” he says. He adds that judges judge is supposed to look at all the fac- ets has climbed, so has the number of
working arraignments have a tougher tors. One of them is the seriousness of actual arrests for certain minor crimes.
schedule than their counterparts in the crime.” Take misdemeanor criminal trespass.
trial courtrooms. What’s more, the judg- But what about in the misdemeanor In 1988, the NYPD arrested about 3,400
ments made at arraignments are neces- cases that increasingly dominate crimi- people for criminal trespass in the sec-
sarily made on the fly. One quirk of the nal court dockets in New York City? ond or third degree, which occurs when
bail system is that while the decision on From 1996 to 2006, the number of felo- someone “knowingly enters or remains
whether to release or set bail is crucial nies processed by New York City courts unlawfully in a building or upon real
to how the rest of a criminal case plays dropped 36 percent. The number of property . . . or dwelling.” By 1994, the
out, judges must base their decision on misdemeanors and lesser offenses rose number had roughly doubled. In 2000,
scant, hastily assembled information of slightly over that period and their share there were 15,000 such arrests. And as
questionable reliability. of the overall caseload swelled to 80 per- of mid-July 2007, data from the State
Bronx Judge Doris Gonzalez, for ex- cent. Meanwhile, the number of arrests Division of Criminal Justice Services
ample, had to weigh what to do with Dar- in New York City climbed 17 percent but suggested that trespassing arrests were
14 FALL 2007
City Limits Investigates
on pace to hit around 21,000 in 2007. In likely to use marijuana than their black violence assault, DWI—usually there’s
many cases these arrests stem from Op- or Hispanic counterparts. A disturb- some screening that has to be done,”
eration Clean Halls in which the NYPD ing manifestation of broken windows is she says. “The kinds of misdemeanor
sweeps buildings, ostensibly for anyone that nuisance enforcement, taken to an cases that we have means that the case-
who doesn’t live there. It’s a response extreme, targets non-white youth rather load is not one you would have seen 30
to the crime that plagues some low-in- than crime. years ago disposed of on arraignment.”
J
come neighborhoods. But it catches When it comes to impact on the bail
anyone who cannot convince a police system, the surge in misdemeanors has udge Z. says that when he did ar-
officer that she had a legitimate reason a complex effect. On one hand, research raignments he was careful not to
for visiting. “It stems from trying to deal indicates that defendants are more likely look just at a person’s criminal record.
with a legitimate problem,” says Paul Li- to abscond on misdemeanors than felo- “There’ve been cases where a person
eberman, a trial supervisor at Brooklyn nies. After all, misdemeanors are easier would have a dozen arrests, and they’d
Defender Services, “but what happens for a defendant to forget about, or for a say ‘Put him in [to jail].’ But I’m look-
is, it turns into the police going through defendant to think a court system would ing at the dozen arrests and there’s not
this building and that building and ar-
resting everyone in them,” from the
armed heroin dealer to the kid without
ID visiting a friend.
The rise in misdemeanor arrests at a
time of falling felony crimes might strike
some as odd, but not proponents of the
“broken windows” theory of policing,
which underlies the NYPD’s quality-of-
life enforcement. First postulated in a
1982 Atlantic Monthly article, the theory
holds that police must target nuisance
crimes like public urination and graffiti
in order to reduce more serious crime.
The idea is that nuisance crime scares
decent people off the streets, inviting in
robbers and killers. Some “broken win-
dows” adherents even see a direct link
between pretrial detention and broken
windows—that holding people for just a
few hours or days gets potential felons In the Bronx, more than half of defendants with bail set in their cases never post it. Photo: JM
off the street and, because pretrial incar-
ceration is so unpleasant, deters some of forget about. That’s an argument for set- one bench warrant. Obviously this man
them from committing the next crime. ting bail in minor cases—as a reminder. comes to court,” he says. The judge
Of course, not everyone picked up for But if the bail can’t be met, and a person would scan the paperwork with other
jumping a turnstile or trespassing was stays behind bars awaiting disposition of questions in mind. How long has he
on their way to kill someone. And not ev- a low-level misdemeanor case, he or she been in the community? Does he have a
eryone who is caught smoking marijua- runs the risk of doing more time pretrial family? A job? “He’s not about to give up
na is a violent criminal of any sort. What than he or she could possibly do post- a job, especially since, for some of these
most of those defendants are is black conviction, since the charge is minor. people, a job is gold.” The judge would
or Hispanic. In the city’s arraignment That’s especially true given what try to confirm the information but, “ba-
courts, white defendants are a stark mi- Judge Newton says is another change— sically you take it at face value.” He’d
nority. Queens College sociologist Har- beyond the “quality of life” surge—in also consider the nature of the crime.
ry Levine has compiled data showing the composition of the misdemeanor “Is it murder in the second degree, or
that of the 360,000 New Yorkers busted caseload. “While misdemeanors far is it spitting on the sidewalk? And the
for marijuana possession from 1997 outnumber felonies, and that’s been likelihood of conviction is important,
to 2006, 55 percent were black and 30 something that’s happened over time, and also whatever other factors the at-
percent were Hispanic. Only 15 percent the nature of the misdemeanors are torneys tell the judge,” he says. “You
were white, despite the fact that some often cases that aren’t capable of being can glean that in ten seconds. You can
surveys indicate that whites are more disposed of at arraignment. Domestic get all of that in ten seconds.”
FALL 2007 15
City Limits Investigates
Then comes the decision. In the ma- cannot afford any amount of bail.” But
16 FALL 2007
City Limits Investigates
question: Have you ever missed court? one thing, because CJA uses a point sys- court is a problem. But most of them did
Having a single bench warrant in your tem, some people will fall near the cutoff show up, and if they had all been locked
life is more important than any other point for getting a good recommenda- up to secure their appearance instead of
individual factor and most of them com- tion. If you’re expecting a friend in court released, the detention would have been
bined. CJA says that’s because its re- and your cellmate is not, it can mean the unnecessary in three out of four cases.
search has indicated that no matter how difference between you being a “moder- “The general perception of failure to
long ago the bench warrant occurred, ate risk” and him getting labeled a “high appear is this is someone who’s thumb-
having one is still correlated with a risk risk” defendant not recommended for ing their nose at the courts,” says Mary
of failure to appear in court. The agency release, even though you’d have about Phillips, a researcher at CJA. But, she
thinks the courts will make the right the same odds of showing up for court. says, that’s not often the reality. Neglect,
exceptions. “One would expect that if Skipping court is not inconsequential. rather than flight, is the more likely ex-
there’s a bench warrant that’s 10 years It means that witnesses, judges and law- planation for some skips. “I think they
old and the guy has been an altar boy yers waste time. It needlessly delays the are not paying attention and they don’t
ever since, that the defense lawyers will trials of other defendants, some of whom care. They forget or they don’t care,”
make a persuasive argument,” says Je- might be in jail. It triggers the potential says Allison Palais, a Bronx-based bail
rome McElroy, CJA’s executive director. cost of a police search, and ensures that bond agent. “Not that they plan it. That
Indeed, defense lawyers do make those if you are stopped by police again, you almost never happens.”
arguments. But they don’t always win. will be arrested and the city will incur all Every day the city’s courts see peo-
In the day of arraignments observed in the attendant costs. ple who missed a court date and are
Judge Margulis’ courtroom in Queens, The fact is, a solid majority of people coming in to face the music, like Ger-
an ADA asked for bail in a DWI case be- do make their court dates, accounting ald (littering from vehicle), Annette
cause the man had a bench warrant 14 for the long lines at the door of the crimi- (loitering), Jason (excessive noise) and
years ago. The judge set bail at $1,500. nal courthouses every morning. In 2005, James (open container) who all showed
CJA’s role in the bail reform movement the overall rate of court-skipping in New up on one day in the basement court-
of the 1960s was to try to identify factors York City was 17 percent. And within a room in the Bronx. One woman who
that could predict court-skipping, in or- month, most of those defendants who was arraigned in Queens this summer
der to give judges a rationale for releas- skipped had gone into court to address was busted when she was in town from
ing more people. Over the years, the ap- their absence. Even defendants whom Florida to make a court date for an ear-
proach has succeeded in getting millions CJA has labeled at “high risk” of flight lier charge. Some people even forget to
of defendants released without bail. But come to court 74 percent of the time, pick up their bail after they have shown
as skilled as the agency is, a mechanical when judges opt to release them. That up for court; the city’s Department of
approach will always have its limits. For more than a quarter of them skipped Finance currently has a list of more
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Source: State Division of Criminal Justice Services
FALL 2007 17
City Limits Investigates
18 FALL 2007
City Limits Investigates
FALL 2007 19
City Limits Investigates
he had little choice but to set reasonable Public Defender Steinberg disagrees. terion a judge can consider in releasing
bail because the defendant had been “I think judges are afraid not to set bail defendants. In other words, if the court
held for 40 days without trial on a mis- because they don’t want to be the judge thinks there’s a chance the defendant
demeanor. But the events that followed who ends up on the front page of the will strike again, it can remand him or,
turned him into a pariah, led the mayor New York Post for releasing a guy who in some systems, set higher bail. New
and Governor Pataki to call for his oust- then does something terrible,” she says. York State’s bail laws do not allow that
er and triggered his downfall. “I think judges and prosecutors take consideration, but judges probably
Every judge knows that the same cover behind bail.” weigh it informally.
thing could happen with someone he This year, as in many years past, New
releases. “The judge is a human being,”
says Judge Z., the veteran judge who
spoke on background. “He sits there and
S ometimes, however, even high bail
doesn’t afford enough cover. When
a Peruvian illegal immigrant was impli-
York’s legislature is considering sev-
eral proposals for making public safety
an explicit criterion in setting or deny-
looks at the case and says, ‘All the fac- cated in the murder of three Newark ing bail. Several call for a “Jilly’s Law,”
tors appear to be that this person comes named after Jill Cahill, an Onondaga
back, but this guy, given his record, will
probably commit another crime.’ Most “. . . you think, County woman whose husband was ac-
cused of assaulting her, got bailed out,
of his crime has been nonsense—small
stuff—but you think, ‘What if the next ‘What if the next and tracked his wife down at a hospital
to kill her in 1998.
time he really beats up on someone and
he hurts someone?’ And that’s when you time he really Joan Christensen, an assemblywoman
from the Syracuse area, is sponsoring
get the headlines of the papers: ‘Why
was this guy out?’” beats up on one of the Jilly’s Law bills. “It would give
the judge a lot more leeway in consider-
Judges can get in trouble for setting
excessive bail, too: Henry R. Bauer, a
someone and he ing other criteria because right now the
only criteria is, ‘Will the defendant appear
judge in upstate Troy, was removed in
2004 for setting $25,000 bail on a de-
hurts someone?’ in court?’ It just gives a lot more reasons
or facts that could be considered in set-
fendant accused of stealing cigarettes.
But the press is much more likely to at-
And that’s when ting bail. It allows the court to consider
any record of violations of court orders.
tack a low bail set in a highly publicized
crime, or a release that leads to another
you get the It will allow the court to consider history
or patterns of violence or threats. The
offense. “I think that judges are human
and I think that to say that a judge would
headlines of the violent nature of the crime would be con-
sidered as well as the impact that crime
never have that in the back of his mind papers: ‘Why was had on the [victim],” she says.
20 FALL 2007
City Limits Investigates
prosecutor Kindler.
On the lower rungs of the income
ladder, however, even very low bail can
be too high to make. Staten Island DA
Donovan acknowledges this impact of
financial conditions on release. “I do be-
lieve there are many people who are in
jail because they didn’t post a minimal
bail,” he says. “Some of our indigent de-
fendants, their family and friends can’t
afford it either.” Low bails are “tanta-
mount to remand for most of our cli-
ents,” says Saft from Brooklyn Defend-
er Services. One of her agency’s clients
was jailed for three weeks on $250 bail
for her first arrest, an assault case. “She
was ROR’d finally,” says the woman’s
lawyer, Elizabeth Latimer. “The case
ended with a disorderly conduct plea
Rikers Island functions mostly as a holding pen for the city’s criminal court system. Photo: JM
and five days community service. She
was pissed off.”
to evaluate the supposed threat. States accused. But one of the alleged acts of The question is, what’s the purpose
that employ a public safety criterion for misconduct for which Duckman was of setting bail in cases like that? Critics
pretrial release generally have in place a removed was an exchange with a pros- don’t think it’s really to bring a person
procedure for challenging—on an expe- ecutor in which Duckman said: “Who back to court. They think it’s intended to
dited timetable—preventive detention. stays in jail for not having $200? Poor coerce guilty pleas. Veterans of the sys-
The trick, however, would be how to people. That’s not right . . . You deprive tem acknowledge that this occurs. “The
predict which released defendants will a person of his liberty; made them go to judges and the DAs both do it,” says
commit crimes that actually threaten jail for five days because he didn’t have Steinberger, the former Bronx ADA. At
public safety. The vast majority don’t. A $200. That’s not right. Outrageous.” least one judge agrees. “That is certain-
CJA study of New York City re-arrests of From his current office in Vermont, ly the case, unfortunately, and to me it’s
released defendants in 2001 found that where he works as a public defender, appalling,” says Judge Z. “And it occurs,
while 17 percent of those released be- Duckman asks the kind of question that I think, more where a judge feels that
fore trial were arrested for new crimes, judges grapple with: “What does the this is a case that he’s concerned about
a mere 3 percent were re-arrested for Eighth Amendment [which prohibits how many cases get pleaded out at ar-
violent crimes. ‘excessive bail’] mean right now? Does raignment so the statistics look good.
If everyone getting arraigned were reasonable bail mean reasonable in Unfortunately, where low bail is set in
accused of rape or murder, the argu- terms of a number, or reasonable that cases where people cannot afford a $10
ment for considering public safety be- the person can pay and that the person bail, it is to coerce a plea. And no one
fore releasing them might be stronger. will recognize as an important figure?” will admit that.”
But 80 percent of criminal cases these Judge Newton, the city criminal Coercing pleas is sometimes about the
days are misdemeanors. To wit, attor- courts chief, believes her judges do not math. In New York, sentenced inmates
ney McGregor Smyth of The Bronx deliberately set bail that people cannot typically serve two-thirds of their time.
Defenders, asks, “What exactly is the make. But while judges are supposed to On a five-day sentence, an inmate might
substantive risk to the community of consider a defendant’s financial resourc- serve only three days. But a defendant
jumping a turnstile?” es in setting bail, there is no explicit who is held in on bail at arraignment
requirement for judges to make bail af- might not be able to see another judge,
VI. Truth fordable for defendants. When prosecu- who could release him, for five days. So
tors discuss the affordability of bail, it’s if you’re offered a five-day sentence in
or consequences usually only to stress the danger that it exchange for a guilty plea, you can say
Lorin Duckman had few allies when he will be too affordable for wealthy people. yes and go back inside for three days
went down, perhaps with good reason. “The only way it comes up is when a per- or say no and do five days behind bars.
After all, he admitted to some of the in- son has a great deal of money, you prob- In other words, for short jail sentences,
appropriate behaviors of which he was ably adjust it upwards,” says Manhattan staying in jail to fight your case means
FALL 2007 21
City Limits Investigates
you’ll do nearly as much or more time as jail. “If you’re not going to make bail by detained for a short time and later re-
if you pleaded guilty. tomorrow you should plead guilty,” his leased had higher conviction rates than
But defendants can also be pressured defense lawyer told him. Koram agreed. those never locked up at all. It’s possible
when longer sentences are at stake. One But when Judge Coin asked, “Did you that some of that impact has to do with
day this summer in Brooklyn arraign- exchange the sneakers for money?” the strength of the cases: In other words,
ment court, Judge William McGuire Koram hesitated. His lawyer grabbed the defendants facing stronger cases
released several defendants and set bail his arm. “Perhaps you were unsuccess- were less likely to be released and more
on others. Then McGuire (who declined ful [selling the sneakers]. You’re playing likely to be convicted because of the
to comment for this piece) took up the too many games now. Listen to me. The evidence. But research has found that
case of a Ms. Brown, a repeat offender question is, ‘Were you going to sell them detention is an important independent
accused of possessing two glassines of or not?’” she yelled, furiously cross-ex- factor in how cases end—especially if
heroin. The ADA recommended a year amining her own client. Throwing up they end by plea. “It’s one of the factors
behind bars. McGuire offered her 60 her hands, she told the judge, “There that plays on a defendant’s mind when
days in jail, and warned that if she reject- is no disposition.” Koram relented. “I they consider plea deals,” says Bronx
ed the deal, her case “would come back was selling it. I was selling it,” he yelled. DA Johnson, a former defense attorney.
to my court and there would definitely Then he went to jail. “There are cases that we think merit a
be a sentence of more than 60 days,” Some defense lawyers might use the jail sentence and it’s a lot more difficult
then added to the ADA: “Just hold off threat of bail to shed some caseload. to get a defendant to acknowledge or ac-
on the bail offer.” The defense lawyer Others sincerely think they’re doing cept that when they’re out.”
asked that Brown be given a couple days the best thing for their clients by get- Even if the threat of bail doesn’t lead
to arrange for her children’s care. “No,” ting them to plead and walk out of jail to a plea at arraignment, the pressure
McGuire said. “Sixty days today. While as soon as possible. Many try to leave it of being locked up on unaffordable bail
she’s thinking about it, what’s your bail up to the defendants. “You have to have will encourage a plea later on. “A $1,000
request?” The ADA asked for $2,000. Mc- a really honest conversation with your bail is really enough to get a conviction
Guire turned again to the defense side. client,” says Bronx Defenders attorney that you wouldn’t get from people who
“Is there a disposition or not?” he asked. Riley. “You say, ‘I will fight this case as could afford bail,” says Brooklyn de-
There was no deal. “She’s not working,” quickly as possible but you’ll be fighting fender Latimer.
the defense lawyer said. “She’s not in a it from the inside.’”
position to make bail.” The judge set bail
of $1,000.
Not everything in arraignment court
Then the accused has to consider
his options. “They’re kind of weighing
the principle of, ‘I didn’t do it so I won’t
P residing over night court in Man-
hattan one evening in August, Judge
Abraham Clott is setting high bails. He
is obvious to the casual observer. An plead’ with a certain practical element: imposes $7,000 bond or $3,500 cash for
audience member can’t know what the ‘Do I want to be here 24 hours or five a cell-phone robbery. A drug sale de-
judge and prosecutor are seeing in the days?’” says former public defender fendant gets $20,000 bond over $10,000
defendant’s case file—the rap sheet, Zeke Edwards, now with the Innocence cash and another felony drug defendant
the criminal complaint, the statement Project, which pursues the exoneration is hit with $200,000 cash or fully secured
he made to cops. But there are cases of the falsely accused. “They make a de- bond. But one thing Clott is doing—that
where it seems clear that bail is being cision which is not really related to guilt many judges don’t—is telling defendants
used as a stick to get defendants to bite or innocence. It’s related to ‘out’ or ‘in.’” what a guilty plea really means.
the carrot of a plea deal. “Of course Staying in jail to fight your case Of the guy pleading guilty to mari-
that’s not supposed to happen,” says means accepting an uphill battle. De- juana possession to get out with time
the Bar Association’s Kamins. “Does tained defendants have a harder time served, he asks, “Do you understand
it happen? I think occasionally,” Judge meeting with their lawyers. They can’t that this will give you a criminal re-
Newton says she “hopes that answer is visit the scene of the crime or introduce cord?” and “Do you understand that
no,” and adds, “That would be an inap- their lawyers to witnesses who are hard this plea might make you ineligible for
propriate use of bail.” to track down. And detained defendants several kinds of employment, for public
Prosecutors interviewed deny that can look worse for wear in court. It’s no housing, for school aid. It can have ef-
they use bail coercively. Truth is, it’s surprise, then, that pretrial detention is fects for some time.”
sometimes the defense lawyers who linked to higher conviction rates: Of de- Defense lawyers would agree. “Now-
do the squeezing. One afternoon in fendants facing misdemeanor or lesser adays there are huge collateral con-
Manhattan arraignments, a man named charges who are released pre-trial, CJA sequences to taking a plea offer for a
Koram was accused of illegal vending, research has found that about half are crime—or even a violation,” says Knecht
and it looked like the judge was going to convicted, versus 92 percent of those of Neighborhood Defender Services.
set bail. The plea offer was four days in who are jailed before trial. Even those It’s always been true that convictions
22 FALL 2007
City Limits Investigates
Collateral
Consequences
If public housing, military Arraignment Time
Plea, Please?
service or student loans Case dismissed,
Take the DA’s deal
were in your plans, you go directly Home!
and go directly to
might have to make new If not, wait to hear the
Collateral Consequences.
ones, thanks to your DA’s offer.
Or say no, and wait to
guilty plea or trial
hear about bail.
conviction.
HOME
SWEET
HOME
Bailed Out
Trial Run Your family had In or Out?
Commuting from Rikers? the cash, or the Decision time for the
Your chances of conviction collateral for a bond. judge. If she releases
are higher. Celebrate if it’s Be sure to make you, go directly Home
an acquittal. Convicted? your court dates. to await trial.If she sets
Jail and/or Collateral bail, try to raise it.
Consequences await.
Welcome to Rikers
Verdict Victory Compare notes with the Stop to Cop
Savor the 9,500 inmates who are It might be time to
moment, but then also awaiting trial. cop a plea before
concentrate on trial. If you’re behind
getting your life bars, don’t expect to
back to normal. fare too well.
FALL 2007 23
City Limits Investigates
had an impact beyond jail. But years of York has opted out, but if a defendant
24 FALL 2007
City Limits Investigates
148 5
812 662 169 Liquor law public narcotic
murder loitering arson violations intoxication
W
murder,” he says. “So what you’re doing
single year get added to because they’re hen a defendant refuses to is contaminating these youngsters. They
politically easy; they seem to be low- plead guilty in order to avoid may be subjected to joining a gang. The
cost for legislators. On the other hand the long-term collateral consequences correction officer has to work twice as
is the unprecedented access to crimi- of a conviction, she has to accept the hard to hear that person calling for help
nal history data. This is reinforcing the immediate life consequences of pretrial who’s not calling [out loud] for help. It
problem because everybody has ac- detention: missing work and school, be- makes it that much more difficult.”
cess to everything.” Smyth works with ing separated from children and facing It’s unclear if Matthew Cruz called
indigent clients fighting evictions from potential custody problems, skipping for help. But he may have paid a higher
NYCHA. “Either the entire family loses appointments with doctors or welfare price for his pretrial detention in 2006
their housing because they want to stay administrators and being held in the than others.
together or they rip apart the family,” potentially dangerous environment of Not much is known about Cruz. He
he says. “The choices that the system is a city jail. And perhaps not for just a apparently grew up in New York, lived in
forcing these families to make because few days. “Let’s say you have a client Brooklyn, had an ex-wife who’d gone to
they are poor are abhorrent.” who says, ‘No. I’m innocent. Let’s go to court over his alleged failure to pay child
FALL 2007 25
City Limits Investigates
in effect, whether the guy stays in or goes free. The role accords bond
agents little prestige, but much power. The 1872 Supreme Court de-
cision that gave bail agents many of their expansive rights declared
that “their dominion is a continuation of the original imprisonment.”
Zouvelos, a hulking, affable man who once was an aide to Brooklyn
DA Charles Hynes, explains it this way: “I don’t need a search warrant
to come into your house. I don’t have to follow extradition treaties.
Sometimes [NYPD] Warrants Section guys will say to me, ‘This guy’s
in Connecticut there’s nothing we can do—at least not now. Is there
anything you can do?’ And I’m like, ‘There’s a lot I can do. I have a car.’”
Bail bond agents can also detain a person and, at their discretion, with-
draw his bond and throw him back in jail, he says. “I can knock down
somebody’s door and take them in the middle of the night.”
While no agency keeps data on who pays bails in the city, bail bonds-
men aren’t considered big players in the New York criminal justice arena.
The State Insurance Department, which regulates the industry because
surety bail bonds are a form of insurance, lists only 33 registered bail
George Zouvelos wants political clout for bail agents. Photo: JM bond agents in the city and around 100 in the state. (For comparison, in
2005 alone the state licensed 128,000 life and health insurance sales-
The Business of Bail people.) New York is considered a tough place to do bail business. Besides
passing an exam and posting a $5,000 bond, applicants for a bail bond li-
The city’s bond agents sing the blues cense must undergo an extensive background check. And once they start
writing bonds, they’ll earn fees that can be much lower than neighboring
Behind the Greek helmet in the front window and the lobby bedecked states: The premium on a typical $100,000 bond is $10,000 in New Jersey
with memorabilia from “Goodfellas” and “Scarface,” George Zouvelos but only around $6,200 in New York.
sits in the back office of his company, Spartan Bail Bonds on Manhat- It can also be tough to find bounty hunters (or “bail enforcement
tan’s Baxter Street. He’s positioned in front of two computers, with law agents,” as they’re more genteely known), who track fugitives and save
books at arm’s reach, a few yards from where his staffers are freeing bail agents money. In fact, there is not a single licensed bail enforce-
people from jail—for a price—in what he calls “a very gray part of the ment agent in the state, probably because few applicants can post the
criminal justice system.” required $500,000 bond. That hasn’t stopped at least 14 schools from
When a judge opts not to release a defendant and sets bail that’s registering to train bail enforcement agents (“Feel the THRILL OF THE
higher than he can pay in cash, a commercial bail bond agent decides, HUNT every time you search for and take another fugitive down!” reads
support. He was a licensed stockbroker 25 years in prison. When Janish was But Cruz was already gone by then—
who in the late 1990s through 2005 had arraigned last summer, Judge Arlene not on bail, because with no assets and
jumped from one firm to another, in- Goldberg at first remanded him. Then about $10,000 in the bank he had no
cluding a few reputed “boiler rooms” she set bail, asking for a fortune—$5 chance of posting even a tenth of what
that used aggressive tactics to sell stock. million. The seven other stockbrokers the judge was asking. In early Novem-
People who knew Cruz say he was try- who were indicted in the case with Jan- ber 2006, the Department of Correction
ing to put his association with such con- ish also faced high bails. Cruz, then 38 reported that Cruz had died in his cell
troversial firms behind him. “He was years old, was held on $10 million bond of “an apparent suicide.” The medical
trying to get out,” says his last employer, or $5 million cash. examiners office concluded that he
who didn’t want to be named. At two of Janish’s family hustled to put to- hanged himself. But Cruz’s lawyer, Bar-
the firms in Cruz’s past he worked with gether enough cash and property to ry Turner, isn’t sure that his client took
a man named Christopher Janish, who post a bail bond. It wasn’t the highest his own life. “There was some expecta-
is now accused by a Manhattan grand bail ever demanded—the judge in the tion that we were going to get him out
jury of costing his clients $13 million by Robert Durst murder case in Texas set of jail soon,” by having his bail reduced,
hyping stock in his uncle’s company and bail at $3 billion. But Durst didn’t post Turner says. “He was a great father and
making trades with little regard for his it. Janish did. “It took me four months,” very much in love with his child. It just
investors’ wishes. bail agent Ira Judelson says, claiming it didn’t make sense. He wasn’t depressed.
Janish faces enterprise corruption, was “the highest bail ever made in the He was getting optimistic.” What’s more,
grand larceny and other charges (which United States.” Janish walked out of in a letter he sent to Turner before his
he denies) that could earn him up to Rikers in December. death, Cruz had said he’d learned of a
26 FALL 2007
City Limits Investigates
one school’s ad), but it has driven bounty hunters—who can be depu- stand, in Manhattan, nobody owns shit here.” And even when a family
tized by any bail agent—underground, Zouvelos says. And that leads to does own property, attempts to write bail against it are sometimes foiled
trouble with the police. by a few city judges who insist on fully-secured bail, which essentially
“No one wants to be in this business with one hand tied behind their requires property with assessed value worth twice the price of the bond.
back,” says Joseph Best, an 11-year veteran of the bond business who Other judges require up to half of a bond to be secured with cash. Either
operates out of a second-floor office in Jamaica. “Anybody who does bail requirement can be a deal killer.
in New York is on a fool’s errand because they release people to us and Zouvelos—who says he must have his clients attain an overall 98.75
then they restrict our supervisions.” Best—a former nightclub owner who percent court appearance rate for him to make a profit—says he keeps
became a bail agent in order to retain his pistol permit after his establish- his wards on track by explaining that they have a vested interest in
ment was shut down—has been fined by state regulators for allegedly staying free. “In a case like this,” he tells them, “being dressed to the
overcharging a client and once angered a judge so much she got his nines and coming in from the back of the courtroom is going to be a lot
sponsoring insurance company to drop him. Three of Best’s deputies were better than coming in from behind the bench, in handcuffs, looking like
arrested recently while they were trying to pick up a fugitive in Manhat- a skell.” Zouvelos also imposes strict conditions on clients, requiring
tan. Best complains about this treatment. But he acknowledges that his some to attend anger management classes or drug treatment.
industry has a terrible reputation. Zouvelos agrees: “People think we’re A number of studies in recent years have claimed that defendants
Chico’s Bail Bonds,” he says, a reference to the seedy sponsors of the out on bond tend to show up for court more reliably than those out on
fictional “Bad News Bears.” their own recognizance. The bail bond industry, which doubled in size
As the founder and president of a new state association of bail bond nationwide from 1997 to 2002, points to those numbers with pride.
agents, Zouvelos is trying to change that image, and increase the politi- Mike Whitlock of the American Surety Company, a national leader in
cal power of the people who underwrite bail in New York. Their legisla- the industry, boasts, “The only guaranteed form of release is through
tive wish list includes higher premiums and easier recovery of forfeited a bail agent.”
bail—money that bond agents lose when a defendant skips. Even after Critics of commercial bonds—which the American Bar Association
a fugitive is returned to custody, it’s so difficult to get bail back from wants to abolish—doubt that it’s bail bond agents’ watchful eyes that
city judges that some bond agents say they don’t bother with the courts deter defendants from fleeing. More likely, they say, is that bond agents
and instead seek to seize the collateral. “We don’t even go after the de- cherry-pick defendants who are more affluent and more likely to show up
fendants,” says Bronx-based bond agent Allison Palais. “I just go after anyway. “The bonding-for-profit system excludes those who don’t have
the families.” the cash to participate,” says Tim Murray of the Pretrial Justice Institute,
An easier business environment for bail bond agents could mean more a reform advocacy group. “It doesn’t exclude successful criminals.”
people living at liberty before trial. But the problem for many New Yorkers But while they approach the criminal justice system with the cool de-
is that neither they nor their families have much to offer to secure a bail tachment of businesspeople protecting their profits, many bond agents
bond. When he writes bail upstate, Zouvelos considers tractors, cows and see the same flaws that Murray observes. When it comes to bail, Zouvelos
horses as collateral. No such luck in the city, he says. “You gotta under- says, “There is a profound injustice for the poor in this city.” —J. M.
plot against him. “He says in the letter ish’s bail, one day short of a year after than 600 defendants on their own re-
that here was a hit set up for him. It was she set it. cognizance or 10 percent bond—a form
supposed to occur on the way to dinner,” of bail that requires only a small deposit
Turner says. against the value of the bail. But releas-
Turner says his client’s bail was “ex-
VII. Room for reform ing people wasn’t the city’s long-term
cessive.” The Manhattan DA claims it The Correctional Association’s Gangi solution to the problem. “To prevent fu-
asked for such high bail because Cruz wonders why judges in New York have ture forced releases,” a mayoral report
tried to flee and was arrested outside the so few options for balancing the needs of explained, the city undertook “a $314
county, but Turner insists that his client the courts with the rights of defendants. million building program.”
surrendered to the DA. “Why don’t we come up with ways to di- That’s a typical policy response. Cor-
Janish was indicted this year, along vert people from jail,” he asks, “save the rectional overcrowding usually forces
with his wife, on new criminal charg- city money and treat people more justly changes in jail policy rather than bail
es—for criminal contempt. Prosecutors and more fairly and reduce the discrimi- policy. Systems in other parts of the
allege that he moved company stock and nation against poor people—and in NYC, country have sometimes even released
took money out of his company’s bank it’s poor people of color?” convicted people in order to accom-
accounts in violation of a restraining The last time New York City em- modate those presumed innocent and
order. He was returned to jail and will braced bail reform, it did so fleetingly held on unmet bail. “When you reach
likely remain there until trial. and only under legal pressure. In 1984, a certain population level at the jail and
Since he’s safely behind bars, Judge after a federal court cited the city for jail there’s new incoming business in terms
Goldberg on August 17 released Jan- overcrowding, the city released more of arrests and bookings, one of the ways
FALL 2007 27
City Limits Investigates
T
to contact more than just half the defen-
he absence of bail reform in New which operates a battery of programs dants who blow their court dates. And
York City is not for a lack of alter- to keep track of those released before crucially, Shaffer says, D.C.’s courts
natives. The state bond statute itself al- trial without bail. Some of those defen- have a public safety provision that allows
lows eight forms of bail, but cash bail dants face virtually no conditions, but detaining people before trial if they are
and commercial surety bonds secured about 5,000 people at any time are en- deemed dangerous; New York doesn’t
by some property or cash are the only rolled in the agency’s supervision pro- have such a provision.
ones regularly used. Also permitted, grams, some of which involve personal Prosecutors like District Attorneys
but almost never used, are unsecured contact with one of the agency’s 200- Johnson in the Bronx and Donovan on
surety bonds—which could be more af- odd caseworkers, plus drug testing, Staten Island are skeptical that a pro-
fordable—as well as appearance bonds. electronic monitoring and sanctions for gram like D.C.’s could work in larger
Appearance bonds involve no bail bond failing to follow the rules. The agency and more populous New York. So is
agent or family members. They are a also identifies people jailed on low bails the Bar Association’s Kamins. He feels
deal struck between the court and the and alerts the courts, prompting their we’re stuck with bail: “Is there any other
28 FALL 2007
City Limits Investigates
way? If there is, I don’t think they’ve Bronx Defenders Executive Director to make sure we didn’t lose money.”
found it yet. Other than financial obli- Steinberg says. Researchers will com- The program ended when the bail
gations, I don’t know of another way to pare what happens in the bailed cases bond agent who was assisting them
ensure that someone will come back. I to a control group of un-bailed prison- moved out of the area. “We couldn’t
wish there were another way, but that’s ers. Lead researcher Ricardo Barreras find anyone who was willing to do this,
the system.” says the world of pretrial detention has even though we were guaranteeing the
been virtually ignored by scholars. money,” says Bell. “We would actually
110%
100%
Space
Available
New York City’s jails are less crowded
now than they’ve been over most of the
past 20 years. The last time overcrowding
was a serious problem here, a federal
90% judge ordered the city to release inmates.
'87 '89 '91 '93 '95 '97 '99 '01 '03 '05 '07 Source: Mayor’s Management Reports, 1987-2007.
FALL 2007 29
City Limits Investigates
G iven the enormous volume of was charged with domestic violence and when he was picked up for the alleged
cases the court system faces, spent five days in jail on $500 bond until heroin sale in March 2005. He was able
credit is due for the many decisions another judge released him. Then there to make the initial $2,500 bail after 17
that Newton’s judges get right. Like were the two defendants accused in an days in jail. But when he was arrested
Clarence, a goofy kid in a Miami Vice assault who were held on $2,500 each on a new misdemeanor count (for resist-
T-shirt arrested for violating New York and released five days later. And Daniel, ing arrest), the probation department is-
City Parks Regulation 1-03, or tres- accused in another domestic assault, sued a violation, and the judge remand-
passing. It seemed odd that one could who waited 48 hours for his arraignment ed Burgos.
be arrested at 12:45 in the afternoon and had bail set at $750. Five days later That was in January 2006. His tri-
for trespassing in a park, but the DA a different judge released him. All these al was in October. The intervening
sought bail anyway. When Judge Dena months were not pleasant. “There was
Douglas released him instead, Clar- a lot of gang activity. Thefts. People
ence bounded out of the courtroom getting slashed on the patio and in the
chanting, “I can get to work. I can get to hallways,” Burgos says of life in Rik-
work. Yes. Yes.” ers. Meanwhile, his being in jail meant
he lost his chance for permanent hous-
A couple weeks later in the same Man- ing, his SSI benefits (which he says are
hattan courtroom, a skinny 18-year-old for a mental condition and diabetes)
named Israel faced a marijuana posses- and his wife. (They split up as the case
sion charge. The DA offered a sentence dragged on.) After a two-week trial, the
of time served if he pled. But the public jury found him not guilty of the felony.
defender wanted to avoid giving him a In June 2007, he pleaded guilty to the
criminal record. The lawyers huddled resisting charge, and was sentenced
with Judge Marc Whiten, he adjourned to the time he served awaiting his ear-
the case, the lawyers huddled again, and lier trial—a long sentence for a minor
all three reached a deal: With a plea to charge. When Burgos finally got out,
disorderly conduct and completion of a he was able to restore his SSI. He’s now
drug program, Israel could avoid a crim- paying a friend $400 a month for a place
inal record. Other judges named in this to sleep. He tried to reconcile with his
article made their own good calls. wife, but it didn’t work out. One wonders
Juan Burgos could afford $2,500 bail, but not
But there are also cases where the if the experience made Burgos more or
the nine months he did on remand before a
decision to release, set bail or remand Bronx jury acquitted him. Photo: JM less likely to run afoul of the law again.
exposes the system’s flaws. One Man- The Bronx DA says in a statement:
hattan ADA offered a guy a mere three people did time because they couldn’t “The reality is that not everyone is trust-
days community service on a plea to mis- pay for their liberty. Their release at ed by the courts to show up on his or her
demeanor possession of a weapon, and their next court date indicates that the adjourn date. Where a defendant is on
when the defendant turned that down, belief that they were flight risks, if that’s probation for a felony offense and is re-
asked for $1,000 bail; the judge set $500 what the first judge really was motivated arrested for another crime, the chance
and the defendant didn’t make it right by, was not widely held. of incarceration increases, and with it
away. On another day in the same court- Criminal cases are complicated how- the risk of flight.”
house, Bianca—charged with possess- ever—rarely black and white. Take the Burgos’ case illustrates the price that
ing drugs and a weapon—was offered a case of Juan Burgos. It should have been pretrial detention can exact. For him,
sentence of “time served” if she pleaded a good day for the criminal justice sys- the problem was not bail but remand.
guilty, meaning she would have walked tem when in October 2006 it acquitted But on Rikers, he says, he met people
free if she said yes. She said no, and was Burgos of a Class B drug felony involv- who were there because they could not
returned to lockup until she came up ing the alleged sale of two bags of hero- afford $100 bail.
with $250 cash. in. The police hadn’t found any drugs on
Sometimes bad bail decisions get
reversed, but only after the defendant
has done time waiting to see a different
him, they had no eyewitness and hadn’t
used prerecorded drug buy money, his
lawyer says. He was the wrong guy, and
T he Bronx district attorney’s office
was offering Burgos 18 months to
three years in prison if he pleaded, Ri-
judge. Like the woman accused of he got off. The only problem was that ley says. In the middle of his trial, Bur-
stealing prescriptions who was held on he’d already served nine months in jail. gos turned to his lawyers and said, “I
$1,500 but released five days later on Burgos, now 44, had pleaded guilty to think I’ll take the year and a half.” He
her own recognizance. Or Charles, who a drug sale in 2000 and was on probation was scared of a longer sentence, and 18
30 FALL 2007
City Limits Investigates
Empire Bail Bonds, a dominant player in the city’s bail bond industry, beckons to defendants across the street from Queens Criminal Court. Photo: JM
months looked like a bargain because consequences. If they win, they must with transparent adversarial truth seek-
he had already done nine. Riley talked try to put their lives back together. ing,” Bowers writes. “It has much to do
him down. Had Burgos pled—given that For years there has been a debate in with the opaque processing (rightful or
he was ultimately acquitted—it would legal circles about whether false pleas wrongful) of recent arrests.”
have been another false plea chalked are a tragedy or merely a tool. Josh Bow- So are false pleas wrong? To Brooklyn
up to the pretrial detention system. ers, a legal scholar at the University of public defender Laura Saft, the answer
It’s impossible to know how many Chicago who used to work as a Bronx is obvious. “It’s bad,” she says, “because
false pleas—the legal term for an in- Defender, argues in an forthcoming the courts are supposed to do justice
nocent person pleading guilty—occur paper that false pleas only bother those and it’s not justice taking pleas from in-
in the city’s criminal courts. What is who “hold on to this last vestige of an nocent people.” Or holding them in jail
known is that false pleas are just one outmoded truth-seeking ideal.” He does for three months, or two weeks, or even
impact of a system that, for tens of not. For people busted on minor charg- five days just because they were short
thousands of defendants every year, es who must choose between getting on cash. u
conditions a person’s liberty on their out of jail by saying “guilty” or returning
ability to pay. Those who can’t afford to the lockup by claiming they aren’t,
pretrial freedom suffer the disruptions pleading out is a good deal. They ought
and danger of incarceration and face to take it. Who can afford the principle
tougher odds of proving their case. If of refusal? “The fact is that the criminal
they lose, they face potential lifelong justice system no longer has much to do
FALL 2007 31
CITY FUTURES 120 Wall Street, floor 20, New York, NY 10005
“Bail is a form
of preventive
CITYLIMITS.ORG
detention for
poor people.
Whatever the
theoretical
justification
for bail,
that’s what
it really is.”