[“The harsh reality is that, despite the possibility that a rich
and powerful man may now be in for his just desserts, our criminal
legal system is daily marked by widespread unfairness and a stark
racial bias.” ]
[[link removed]]

OPINION: TRUMP’S INDICTMENT DOESN’T REDEEM OUR FLAWED CRIMINAL
LEGAL SYSTEM  
[[link removed]]


 

Robert Gangi
April 24, 2023
City Limits
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ “The harsh reality is that, despite the possibility that a rich
and powerful man may now be in for his just desserts, our criminal
legal system is daily marked by widespread unfairness and a stark
racial bias.” _

Elected officials and activists at a rally at Rikers Island in
February 2022., (William Alatriste/NYC Council Media Unit)

 

Many New Yorkers welcomed the Donald Trump indictment brought by
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg
[[link removed]]. After all, don’t we all
love the plot twist that brings the villain to his knees? And Donald
Trump has definitely earned his standing as the most villainous public
figure of our era.

Favorable responses have also come from more than a few relieved
pundits, heartened that our criminal legal system has met the
difficult challenge of holding a controversial ex-president
accountable, of demonstrating that no one is above the law, and that
justice in America applies equally to all, no matter how rich or poor.
One commentator on MSNBC, for example, opined that the Trump
indictment represented the “restoration of the republic.”

But here’s the ‘however’: while the Trump indictment is a good
thing from legal and political standpoints, the consequent positive
spin from commentators about how justice works in our country is,
sadly, misleading and overblown. The harsh reality is that, despite
the possibility that a rich and powerful man may now be in for his
just desserts, our criminal legal system is daily marked by widespread
unfairness and a stark racial bias. 

I have worked as an advocate in the justice field in New York City for
about 45 years. During that time I have seen up close how our court,
police, and prison institutions and systems operate. My sweeping
criticisms are based on and informed by that extensive experience—I
make them without reservation and with complete confidence that they
reflect and describe the deeply discriminatory and harmful-to-humans
impact of our law enforcement apparatus.

You do not have to take my word for it, though. Here are some damning
facts. Sources? The systems themselves:

* 90 percent of the people locked up on Rikers Island are New
Yorkers of color, there mainly because a NYPD officer has arrested
them and they are too poor to afford bail. Bail, for all intents and
purposes, functions as a_ _pre-trial detention program for poor
people. 
* Since January 2021, 36 people have died on Rikers Island
[[link removed]],
a jail colony where most of the people confined are still presumed
innocent. Most of the people who died there would likely still be
alive had our criminal legal system not consigned them to a brutal
correctional facility with woefully inadequate medical and mental
health care. 
* 95 percent of juveniles who the NYPD arrests annually are youth of
color. 
* The majority of NYPD arrests are for misdemeanors. Last year, 88
percent of such arrests involved New Yorkers of color. In some
misdemeanor arrest categories, the racial disproportion was even more
stark: 91.5 percent of fare evasion arrests involved New Yorkers of
color; 94 percent of forged instrument arrests; 92.5 percent of
possession of stolen property arrests; and 89 percent of contempt in
the 2nd degree arrests. 
* Last year, over 52 percent of NYPD felony arrests involved Black
New Yorkers who make up 25.1 percent of the city’s population.

Staffed by representatives from my organization, The Police Reform
Organizing Project (PROP), the Court Monitoring Project both involves
my and other people’s up-close observations and produces more
undeniable facts. As in the case of Donald Trump, everybody the NYPD
arrests appears in arraignment court to hear the formal charges
against them. To track NYPD arrest practices, PROP representatives
regularly visit the arraignment parts in the criminal courts of
Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx where they record and
report on the proceedings. 

During the eight years of Bill de Blasio’s mayoralty, for example,
we released 12 court monitoring reports. All told, we observed over
7,000 cases, 89.3 percent of which involved New Yorkers of color.
Under Mayor Eric Adams, arrest practices have become more aggressive
and the racial bias even more stark. For example, in four recent
weeks, from March 20 through April 14, when PROP visited the
arraignment parts in our city’s four major boroughs, we observed
181 cases—168, or 92.8 percent of them, involving New Yorkers of
color.

In New York City and in jurisdictions across our county, we teach our
children that we provide equal justice for all people, not equal
justice except if you’re a person of color, except if you’re poor.
We claim that you’re innocent until proven guilty—a principle that
pundits across the political spectrum have reminded us lately applies
to Mr. Trump—not that you’re innocent until proven guilty unless
you’re poor, unless you’re an individual of color.

In truth, prosecuting Donald Trump does not achieve such a lofty goal
as the restoration of the republic. It does not really redeem our
so-called justice system or absolve it of its long-standing and deeply
entrenched racist and abusive practices.

That will take the kind sweeping and fundamental reforms in current
practices that we as a people will not be prepared to take until we
recognize and accept that in actual practice our vaunted legal
apparatus does not fulfill our national ideals and, in fact, inflicts
harm everyday on our poor and powerless citizens. 

_Robert Gangi is the executive director of the Police Reform
Organizing Project (PROP). Prior to founding PROP in 2011, he was
executive director of the Correctional Association for over 29 years._

_City Limits' investigative journalism has informed and inspired New
Yorkers for the last 46 years. Your tax-deductible donation will
enable us to keep looking out for New York's most vulnerable: homeless
and housing-insecure families, immigrants and local communities with
limited social support.  Donate now_

* criminal justice system
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]

Manage subscription
[[link removed]]

Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]