Many New Yorkers are outraged by our courts’ failure to show common sense in some cases; what they don’t realize is that judges are sometimes legally mandated to not use discretion — especially when it comes to the safety of the public.
Yes, it’s foolish and dangerous to prohibit a judge from considering the safety of the public when determining bail. But that’s the way our laws are now written: When making a bail determination, a judge can only consider the likelihood that the defendant will return to court (by looking at such factors as bench warrant history and ties to the community), and not whether the defendant is a high risk to be a danger to society if released.
New York is one of only four states that still don’t allow judges to consider this threat.
In 2010, I introduced City Council legislation calling on Albany to fix this broken law and authorize judges to consider a defendant’s “danger to the community” as a factor in bail decisions. I’m glad that Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman wants it changed, too.
As a former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, I repeatedly saw extremely dangerous criminals (who did not have a history of missed court dates) released right back into society — where they were invariably soon rearrested on similar charges.
In my time chairing the council’s Public Safety Committee, I experienced one of the most egregious incidents of setting bail while ignoring a direct threat to public safety.
In 2005, Peter Belegrinos was charged with punching, molesting and attempting to kidnap a 9-year-old girl in Astoria Park in broad daylight. Despite overwhelming evidence that he was a clear and present danger to our children, the court set relatively low bail. It was his first arrest, but there was likely no one apprehended in Queens in recent memory that presented more of a hazard to our children.
Court spokesperson David Bookstaver blamed the low bail on the fact that the judge couldn’t consider the safety of the community. While I believe there were other factors present that should have allowed for high bail (Belegrinos did in fact flee to his native country), clearly a change in our laws would have more easily allowed the judge to properly protect our kids from this predator.
Remember, too, that the strength of the People’s case is a factor judges do consider, and provides the necessary safeguards to prevent unfairly high bail. For example, if the identification in Belegrinos’ case had come years after the incident, the evidence of guilt clearly wouldn’t have been as strong.
New York judges must be allowed to consider the safety of the public. Let’s hope Lippman prompts the Legislature to remove this legal criminal-friendly loophole, bringing more good judgment and common sense to our courts.
Peter F. Vallone Jr. (D-Queens) chairs the City Council’s Public Safety Committee.