The city’s new plan may seem counter-intuitive. But it’s one of several ways NYC is trying to reform a bail system that the state largely controls.
At 7 p.m. on a Thursday inside the Bronx Criminal Court, Lisa
Whiteside is trying to determine who she can prevent from spending the
night on Riker’s Island. She scans the docket of 30 scheduled
arraignments, knowing it will likely double in length as the night gets
longer. Whiteside sits across one side of a thick glass barrier and asks
promising candidates whether or not they have secure housing. What the
circumstances were behind their arrest. What headspace they are in now.
Not all people get to the face-to-face meeting, but those who do have a
chance to argue that they should be helped. And Whiteside must then
decide whether or not to pay their bail.
Whiteside is a charitable bail fund agent in the Bronx. She pays bail
for some New Yorkers who can’t afford to pay it themselves.
Whiteside is part of a program that may seem counterintuitive. The
Liberty Fund, created by the City of New York, sets free some of the
very people that the city’s municipal judges have deemed a flight risk.
Click here for the full article.
Source: CITYLAB (via The Empire Report)
No comments:
Post a Comment