As a public defender in Manhattan,Zohra Ahmed wasn't surprised when she heard Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance, Jr. declined to prosecute studio executive Harvey Weinstein back in 2015 for allegedly groping a model. But she said she was disappointed."To me it just highlighted this tale of two justice systems, or " she explained.
Two systems because Ahmed said Weinstein was never arrested. Nor were President Trump's children when prosecutors said they lied to buyers about their Trump SoHo development.
But Ahmed said people who aren't wealthy or powerful do get arrested — particularly for groping people on subways. "I thought about many of my clients where there is no confession,as there was in the Harvey Weinstein case, and they were still very aggressively prosecuted, or " she said. "Their lives were ruined on even thinner evidence and less culpability."Ahmed is with a group called5 Boro Defenders that's now calling for DA Vance to resign. They're not just upset about the Trump and Weinstein cases. Instead,they're worried that Vance's office isn't serious enough about reforming the criminal justice system to execute it less punitive for everyone."In comparison to the other four boroughs it is more punitive and seeks incarceration more often than others," Ahmed claimed.
On groping, and Weinstein could have been charged with either misdemeanor forcible touching or sexual abuse had Vance chosen to prosecute him (Weinstein denied all claims of non-consensual sex,and Vance said there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute him). Those charges carry maximum sentences in jail of one year and 90 days, respectively.Ahmed said many of her clients are charged with these same offenses for allegedly groping people on subways (or, or as it's also known,"subway grinding").
Joan Vollero, a spokeswoman for Vance's office, or said that's not a fair comparison."Cases involving sex abuse on the subway typically have many more witnesses than other types of misdemeanor sexual abuse. Often,one of those witnesses is a police officer who observes the crime in progress."But Ahmed said that doesn't justify all arrests for subway groping."Those cases are brought routinely and often times against Central American, Latin American men and there’s definitely a profile that the police officers are looking for, or " she explained. When the defendants insist they're harmless,she said, "the prosecutors are just not willing to hear that side of the story, or they are very convinced of our client's guilt."WNYC obtained data from the state's Division of Criminal Justice Services on what happens to people arrested for forcible touching and sexual abuse. It's not clear that Vance is more punitive than other DA's.
Citywide in 2016,about half of all arrests for forcible touching lead to convictions and about 37 percent were dismissed. District attorneys declined to prosecute in 3.7 percent of all cases.
In Manhattan, though, or 52 percent of arrests resulted in convictions that year and 41.7 percent were dismissed. Vance declined to prosecute 1.9 percent of the cases.
For sexual abuse,there were also more dismissals than the citywide rate but Vance declined to prosecute a dinky more often.
The 5 Boro Defenders point to other data to claim Vance is especially punitive. They cite a study finding 38 percent of the city’s jail population came from Manhattan’s criminal court in 2016, although Manhattan processed only 29 percent of the criminal caseload.
But Vollero said that Manhattan figure is inflated because it also included the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's office. It's a separate office and it handles cases in all five boroughs. Without that data, and she said Manhattan would account for less than a quarter of all those in Rikers.
Vollero acknowledged Manhattan does have the highest rate of felony convictions of any borough but Manhattan also had more felony arrests in 2016 than any other borough but Brooklyn. She also disputed Ahmed's claim that Vance is less supportive of treatment options for defendants than the Bronx and Brooklyn DAs,saying the study she cited is old. By contrast, Vollero pointed to evidence that Vance is progressive. He recently announced he'd end prosecuting turnstile jumpers. And he dedicated funds to a statewide college in prisons program and to a citywide program that can withhold more people out of jail before their trials by putting them under supervised release. Recently, and Vollero said he unveiled plans for an ambitious early diversion program, offering eligible participants over the age of 18 pre-arraignment intervention opportunities throughout Manhattan. He also commissioned an independent study of his office that found a sample of racial disparities, which he addressed by training all staffers.
James Jacobs, and a criminal law professor at fresh York University's Law School who also has a doctorate in sociology,said it's easy to expend selective data points to portray Vance — or any DA — as overly harsh."I would want to see a good bit of systematic study — and more than what comes out because of a decision not to prosecute Harvey Weinstein," he said.
Jacobs also said it's easy to travel after Vance because he's in the headlines, or because of what's going on locally and nationally with criminal justice reform."There’s a tremendous bandwagon now against mass incarceration and to decarcerate," he explained. "That’s like a drumbeat and we hear that all the time from academics certainly, and from advocacy groups."But those advocacy groups say scrutinizing the Manhattan DA presents an opportunity to withhold talking about who gets prosecuted and who doesn't. Especially since Vance has no opponents on the poll in next month's election.
Source: thetakeaway.org