Ezekiel Edwards

Same Old Story

In my previous entries "Charge or Release" and "If Arrested in the Bronx, Get Ready To Wait", I wrote about New Yorkers being arrested and detained well beyond 24 hours before seeing a judge in violation of a 1991 decision by the Court of Appeals (which held that, barring exceptional circumstances, arrestees must be arraigned within one day of their arrest). Despite the gradual increase in public awareness of this issue, nothing has changed yet in the Bronx.

On Sunday evening, I worked an arraignment shift from 4 p.m. until 1 a.m. As usual, there were over 300 people who had been arrested and were being held in a variety of places in the Bronx and beyond, yet to have seen a judge. Around 85% of the people I represented that evening --- the overwhelming majority of whom stood accused of minor misdemeanor offenses --- had been arrested on Friday night, meaning that they had been sitting in jail all weekend (two days) without being charged, without being appointed an attorney, without being arraigned. Some did not even know what they were being charged with (i.e., those who had not committed a crime). As the hours crept by, jobs were lost, children were left unattended, medication was left untaken, and special housing arrangements were put in jeopardy. There were two men, in particular, who kept asking me if I had their case, that they had been sitting in jail since Thursday --- over three days --- and had not seen a judge. Upon further inquiry, I learned that, indeed, they had been arrested in the Bronx on Thursday, then brought to Manhattan on Friday, held for two days, then brought back to the Bronx on Sunday, where they now sat in a congested cell, watching as other arrestees came, sat, slept, waited, and eventually left while their names were never called. Each time I told them that I did not have their files and had no idea where their files were, their aggravation mounted. The evening wore on, and I continued inquiring of the arraignment administrators about the two men's cases. At 12:30 a.m. (now officially Monday morning), I finally received an answer. An administrator confirmed that the men had been held for over 72 hours, then informed me that the District Attorney's Office was declining to prosecute them (for reasons unrelated to the length of their detainment) and that they would be released by 1 a.m. So these two men were arrested on Thursday, held until Monday, and yet were never even charged with a crime.

On March 30th, there will be a community coalition meeting organized by the New York Civil Liberties Union and its Bill of Rights Defense Campaign in support of the Charge or Release Bill. As evidenced by what is happening in the Bronx, it is crucial for all New Yorkers that we build support for this legislation. The bill would codify the 24-hour rule, require that the city and police department issue quarterly reports on cases not arraigned within 24 hours, and create a private right of action for people arraigned more than 24 hours after their arrest.

The city should never hold anyone for 25, let alone 48, let alone 72 hours without arraigning them (barring extraordinary circumstances). If the city continues to place a far greater emphasis on arresting hundreds of low-income New Yorkers every day for petty offenses rather than respecting both the law and its own citizens, then perhaps the only way to force the city to rearrange its priorities and abide by a decision from the state's highest court is to subject it to civil suits. If the city insists on arresting people for the crime of possessing one bag of marihuana, then the public should insist that the city likewise be held responsible for the greater crime of holding those people for 50 hours before bringing them before a judge.

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Posted at 8:44 AM, Mar 30, 2006 in Criminal Justice
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