Kalief Browder’s Suicide Inspired a Push to End Cash Bail. Now Lawmakers Have a Deal.
New York's crime problem is less severe than decades ago; no question about it. The New York legislature seems on a suicide course to erase that progress, following the dubious leads of Illinois, California and other states. Kalief Browder is alleged to have stolen a backpack off another person in 2010, when he was 16. His family was unable or unwilling to raise the $3000 bail required and he spent the next three years in prison, much of it in solitary confinement. When his case came up for review or trial in 2013 the authorities could not find the alleged crime victim. He was released for "lack of evidence" and not because of innocence. He committed suicide a few years later.
According to the article "(f)or many left-leaning politicians, he is a symbol of the problems inherent in the bail system, which they argue discriminates against the poor." Now I feel badly for the suicide. But the article did not discuss the following:
- Why he was in solitary confinement much of the time;
- His prior juvenile or criminal record, if any;
- Why the judge set a cash bail; and
- Whether application was made to reduce or waive bail and whether those requests, if any, were denied.
In short, all we are presented with is a purported tragedy. People are not held in solitary confinement by accident. We do not know whether Kalief Browder was a violent person. We can only suspect he was.
Why the fate of the street toughs is of concern, and why the law enforcement efforts of New York are being spent on such immediate threats to New Yorkers as Paul Manafort, see
Manafort State Charges - Doesn't New York Have Better Things to Do Than Play Fed Politics and Donald Trump, see
NY's attorney general is one of the most powerful in the nation. That should worry Trump</sarcasm>, to quote Led Zeppelin, "makes you wonder." Priorities are a bit screwed up. While many New Yorkers can't stand Trump, they are more worried about a 16 year old grabbing property off their person.
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