Criminal Justice News-August 2013
Stop and Frisk Ruling
On August 12 a ruling was handed down by District Court Judge Shira A. Scheindlin stating that New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk tactics violated the constitutional rights of people of color in New York. She called it a “policy of indirect racial profiling” that led to officers routinely stopping “blacks and Hispanics who would not have been stopped if they were white”. Scheindlin wrote in a lengthy opinion, "The city's highest officials have turned a blind eye to the evidence that officers are conducting stops in a racially discriminatory manner…For years, police leaders had been warned that officers were violating rights, but they nevertheless maintained and escalated policies and practices that predictably resulted in even more widespread Fourth Amendment violations." She also made mention of violations of the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure, "Far too many people in New York City have been deprived of this basic freedom far too often," she said. "The NYPD's practice of making stops that lack individualized reasonable suspicion has been so pervasive and persistent as to become not only a part of the NYPD's standard operating procedure, but a fact of daily life in some New York City neighborhoods."
She concluded by stating, “In their zeal to defend a policy that they believe to be effective, they have willfully ignored overwhelming proof that the policy of targeting 'the right people' is racially discriminatory”.
The Center for Constitutional Rights, the nonprofit group that represented the plaintiffs, said in a statement: "Today is a victory for all New Yorkers. After more than 5 million stops conducted under the current administration, hundreds of thousands of them illegal and discriminatory, the NYPD has finally been held accountable. It is time for the city to stop denying the problem and work with the community to fix it."
Attorney General Holder States that Broken Justice System Needs “Sweeping” Changes
Also on August 12, during a speech to the American Bar Association, Attorney General Eric Holder called for “sweeping, systemic changes” to the American judicial system, urging “a frank and constructive dialogue about the need to reform a broken system.” He pointed out that mandatory minimums do not serve public safety. What they do instead is have a “destabilizing effect on particular communities, largely poor and of color”.
“The bottom line is that, while the aggressive enforcement of federal criminal statutes remains necessary, we cannot simply prosecute or incarcerate our way to becoming a safer nation," Holder said. "To be effective, federal efforts must also focus on prevention and reentry. We must never stop being tough on crime. But we must also be smart and efficient when battling crime and the conditions and the individual choices that breed it."
He also made note of the fact that sentences are often racially disproportionate, citing a recent report which indicated that black male offenders received sentences nearly 20 percent longer than white males convicted of similar crimes.
“This is not just unacceptable,” Holder said. “It’s shameful.”
In a memo released that same day, Holder outlined changes for federal prosecutors, stating that "In some cases, mandatory minimum statutes…have resulted in unduly harsh sentences and perceived or actual disparities that do not reflect our Principles of Federal prosecution." Both sides of the political aisle praised his plan indicating that perhaps reform of our criminal justice system truly is achievable!