Photo: The Hon. Jonathan Lippman, chief judge of New York, joined Mayor de Blasio this week in announcing an initiative aimed at improving the quality of justice in the Big Apple. Photo Courtesy of NY State Courts.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Hon. Jonathan Lippman, chief judge of the State of New York, on Tuesday announced immediate changes that they have indicated will modernize the criminal justice system and improve the quality of justice in the five boroughs.
The plan is the first stage of Justice Reboot, a new initiative which de Blasio said solidifies a long-term commitment to reduce unnecessary incarceration safely and promote confidence in the fairness of the justice system.
“Improving the quality of justice and fostering public trust and confidence in our justice system are critical objectives that the courts, law enforcement and the defense bar all share,” Lippman said. “The program we announce today is a collaborative, broad-based initiative to promote these goals. By bringing together all the key participants to tackle case backlogs, identify systemic problems and develop and implement effective solutions, Justice Reboot is a novel undertaking that will lead to a fairer, more efficient criminal justice system in this city.”
According to the administration, three immediate steps will improve the criminal justice system dramatically: Within 45 days, calendar for trial or plea all cases where the defendant is being held at Rikers and the case has been pending for longer than a year; within six months, resolve 50 percent of all cases where the defendant is detained at Rikers and the case has been pending for longer than a year; overhaul half of all criminal court cases by making the summons process easier to understand and navigate.
“Today’s changes are part of my long-term commitment to bring the criminal justice system into the 21st Century, safely drive down the number of people behind bars, and make the system fairer,” de Blasio noted.
Additional steps to reduce case processing times, according to Justice Reboot, include: Deep, analytic dives into borough-specific problems and solutions; a centralized coordinating body; a sophisticated technological tool to track case trends in real time; a 21st century scheduling system.
Steps to ensure that people who receive a summons appear in court include: A redesigned summons form that makes the date of appearance easier to understand; a reminder system to ensure defendants appear in court; flexible appearance date and night court.
And steps to enhance transparency and improve the quality of justice in summons court include: Publicly available quarterly data; real-time, electronic access to case files; online payment of fines; training on collateral consequences for 18-b attorneys and Judicial Hearing Officers.
“We support the efforts to increase transparency by posting summons data and we applaud testing methods to ensure a higher court appearance rate. Police resources are too often wasted returning defendants to court on warrants that could have been avoided,” said Police Commissioner William Bratton.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman added, “The initiatives proposed by Mayor de Blasio and Chief Judge Lippman are a great step toward a more efficient, sensible approach to how we deal with summonses and process our cases in New York City. As a strong supporter of evidence-based solutions to our criminal justice problems, I applaud the reforms presented today.”
By Michael V. Cusenza michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
