In any given year, 98% of criminal cases in the federal courts end with a plea bargain
It's really interesting to see this statistic because it supports the idea that prosecutors have a lot of power in criminal trials. They're able to coerce potentially innocent people into admitting to a crime they never committed because the defendants don't want a longer sentence.
innocent people are coerced into guilty pleas because of the power prosecutors hold over them, including the prospect of decades-long mandatory minimum sentences.
I think that the previous statistic demonstrates this point. Its wrong that prosecutors have so much power that they can do this. It really makes you wonder if they are trying to do the right thing.
The deals also exacerbate racial inequality, with Black defendants more often subject to prosecutors' stacking of multiple charges in drug and gun cases.
I think this is wrong and there to needs to be some sort of change. I think this could relate to the power of labels that is mentioned in the book Unfair. There are stereotypes that black people are "criminals" or "dangerous", which could play a role in the prosecutors decisions to stack charges. As well the idea that they, the prosecutors, might think they are doing the right thing in stacking charges.
But most stark in the report is research that cites innocent defendants who agree to falsely plead guilty, sometimes on the advice of their own lawyers. An Innocence Project database of exonerations includes dozens of people who falsely pleaded guilty.
This reminds me of the Juan Rivera case and how the detectives got a "confession" out of him. I wonder what proportion of the innocent defendants can be considered susceptible to these coercive tactics.
"It's having an effect on the entire community and the safety of the entire community."
I agree with what is being said because to let prosecutors get away with so much power would be a clear failure on the part of the system. There needs to be some sort of restriction to their power.
The group has estimated that almost 40% of calls to police could be handled by community responders.
At least on that Friday, Rachlin said, the alliance “provided a moment of safety.”
It's nice that they were able to provide safety for someone even if it was only for a moment. People can only be helped if they want to be helped. I just wonder why people might refuse the help when it can be beneficial to them.
The neighborhood was reeling from the 2019 shooting of Kwesi Ashun, a T-shirt vendor with paranoid schizophrenia, killed as he swung at an officer with a chair at a nail salon.
I know that having you mental health issues puts you more at risk of run ins with the police especially if you are a person of color and/or homeless, so I wonder if the Brownsville Safety Alliance are trained to deal with these types of situations?
Brownsville Safety Alliance, a group of neighborhood and city groups, police officers and members of the Kings County District Attorney’s office that is trying to ensure that fewer people are arrested and entangled in the criminal justice system.
In Brownsville, the effort not only gives residents more say over what public safety looks like but can deter crime if people know there are more eyes watching, said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
It's important to shift public safety into a community thing because people are more likely going to hold others accountable for their actions. Changing people's mindset from "me" to "we" mindset might also help with policing strategy. I believe its important for people to believe that their actions are not only affecting themselves but the community as well.
She waited while on hold for 10 minutes before someone told her it would be 24 hours before a team could come, and that she could call the police.
I think this might be the problem with mental health hotlines and the police because you expecting/needing assistance immediately, but they are sometimes not able to provide that so this might build distrust for these services. I have heard of stories where the police try to handle situations like this, but they are not trained to deal with this so they end up escalating the problem.
The next day, that same man returned, but this time to volunteer.
But the Safety Alliance has been thriving amid a positive trend in the 73rd Precinct, Gonzalez said. In the first half of this year, homicides fell 50%, shootings fell 25% and the rate of grand larcenies of automobiles also fell even as it rose in other neighborhoods, he said.
“It’s like they left us without protection,” she said. “It doesn’t give me peace.”
This is definitely a valid concern, and I think it is important to see why people might feel this way. The policing alternative is good progress, but there should also be changes to other aspects of the community. If the people are able to get the proper support that is needed like housing, food, water, clothing, education, and mental health support, then there might also be a decrease in crime and in turn the fear of crime itself.
The idea came from Terrell Anderson, who in 2020 took over as commander of the area’s 73rd Precinct. Raised in Brownsville, he promised to rebuild the precinct’s relationship with a wary community.
I am not surprised that the idea came from someone who has lived in the community because they know their community best. They are able to provide suggestions/ideas that are best suited for themselves and others because they have first hand experience whereas officers and politicians are more likely to look at statistics and graphs to base their decisions off of rather than the human experience. I wonder if officers in other communities would allow for this.
But they have persuaded people to turn in illegal guns, prevented shoplifting, kept a man from robbing a bodega and stopped a pregnant woman from hitting a boyfriend who had not bought a car seat and a stroller as he had promised.
This is impressive because if an officer would have tried to stop these incidents it might have escalated out of fear. I have seen many videos of police officers trying to stop problems, but because of fear the people in the situation refuse to cooperate. Maybe the idea of your own neighbors holding you accountable is more soothing for those in the situation.
letting neighbors, not the police, respond to low-level street crime.
“They say, ‘We feel more safe. We can walk without feeling anxiety,’” he said. “While they know that we do need police, it’s possible that we can police ourselves.”
It's important that the residents don't feel anxiety because of policing, it should be something that calms you and makes you feel safe. Personally, I understand how they feel because I get anxiety whenever I know police officers around.
Unless there is a major incident or a victim demands an arrest, officers, always in plainclothes, shadow the workers.
Is this to seem less intimidating to the people in the incidents? Personally, if I were to see officers in plain clothing, I would feel a lot more comfortable.