Ezekiel Edwards

Charge or Release

Every week, dozens of people are arrested in New York and held without charge for more than 24 hours in violation of a ruling set down by the Court of Appeals 15 years ago. The majority of these people are eventually charged with low-level misdemeanors such as hopping the turnstile, selling goods without a vendor's license, possessing a bag of marihuana, driving while not in possession of a driver's license, etc. And yet, those arrested routinely have to wait 30, 40, sometimes over 50 hours before seeing a judge.

In response to this citywide problem, on January 31, 2006, the Bill of Rights Defense Campaign, a grassroots project of the New York Civil Liberties Union, held a rally on the steps of City Hall in support of the reintroduction of the Charge and Release Bill. The bill would codify a decision by the Court of Appeals in 1991 that articulated the "24-hour rule", stating that anyone held for more than 24 hours without being arraigned must be released, barring an acceptable explanation. The bill would also require that the Police and Correction Departments issue quarterly reports on cases in which arraignment took place after 24 hours, as well as create a private right of action for individuals arraigned more than 24 hours following their arrests.

During the last City Council session, twenty-three council members signed on as co-sponsors of the Charge or Release Bill, and it received unanimous endorsement from the Council's Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus.

The lengthy arrest-to-arraignment period is not an unusual or even occasional occurrence. Rather, it happens every month, every week, every day in New York. For example, reports on arraignments by the NYPD for October and November 2004 revealed that more than 16,000 arrestees in New York City were arraigned after twenty-four hours of their arrest. In the Bronx, 67% percent of those arrested had to wait more than one day to be arraigned. As a public defender in the Bronx, I encounter people during every arraignment shift who have been in jail for over 24 hours, sometimes for over two days. It is not simply the number of anxious hours that people must endure; it is also the conditions of the jail cells and the devastating collateral consequences that result from prolonged detentions. As for the former, the cells are dirty, malodorous, and bug infested. I have interviewed many clients as we watch roaches meander by on the wall beside us. The cells are sometimes so crowded that people are forced to sit or lie on the floor, sometimes sleeping under the benches. While arrestees wait to see a judge, they miss work or school, fail to appear for job interviews, face childcare dilemmas, and are often without vital medication. Even if the case is resolved at arraignments (with a sentence of a fine, for example), the actual punishment --- losing a day's pay, or even employment --- is far more severe.

Since the vast majority of the people arrested in New York are poor African-Americans and Latinos, it is their communities that are disproportionately affected by lengthy detentions and the often harsh, irreversible social, economic, and familial harm that accompany them.

The Charge or Release Bill is long overdue. It is not acceptable that every year tens of thousands of people are detained for more than 24 hours before being arraigned. It is time the city takes seriously the 24-hour rule, or be held accountable.

Ezekiel Edwards: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 7:00 AM, Feb 02, 2006 in Criminal Justice
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