As the candidates for Brooklyn district attorney prepare to debate, defense lawyers and a bail advocate say that cash bail is still requested too often under acting DA Eric Gonzalez.
A point of contention among the candidates is how much the DA’s office is currently doing to limit the use of bail in cases involving alleged misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies.
A lawsuit challenging New York’s practice of setting aside affordable apartments for nearby residents is still alive after a judge rejected a bid by the de Blasio administration to have it dismissed.
Prosecutors now must decide whether or not to appeal that ruling.
Hoping to make gun charges result in convictions earlier and more often, New York City is pursuing another experiment with specialized gun courts. But making illegal weapons charges stick is harder than it sounds.
Overlapping authority among state and city agencies might be one of the reasons that obstacles persist for the estimated 99,000 New Yorkers who use wheelchairs, as well as other people with disabilities.
A move by the state courts to review bail decisions comes too late in the process to make a difference, defense attorneys report.
Some want Rikers to close altogether. The mayor says that’s not a realistic goal. But a Manhattan Assemblyman says the de Blasio administration should at least move pre-trail detainees off the island.
The program would handle gun cases to serve one basic underlying purpose: to speed up gun convictions. Many, however, might not equate “fast tracking” with justice or due process.
City Limits contacted all 51 members of the City Council, the five borough presidents and the three citywide officials to ask whether they support closing Rikers.
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