Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced a plan to triple the number of teen defendants released without bail in a move likely aimed at one-upping his archrival, Gov. Cuomo, who has also been busy “reforming” the bail process.
Hizzoner’s latest brainstorm could prove especially dangerous. He hopes to achieve his goal by expanding the scope of eligibility for a supervised-release program reserved for defendants between the ages of 16 and 19. Soon, even those charged with first- and second-degree robbery, assault and burglary will qualify for the city’s Youth Engagement Track — that is, bail-free release from custody while their cases are pending.
Teenage robbers, violent assailants and burglars aren’t a low-risk population, and there will likely be a price tag attached to a policy of leniency when it comes to handling such cases. So why is the mayor pulling this lever now? The answer is twofold.
First, de Blasio’s plan to close Rikers Island calls for reducing the city’s jail population to 5,000 inmates. In a column last year, I posited that this goal couldn’t be achieved without putting more serious and violent offenders on the street.
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Rafael A. Mangual is a fellow and deputy director for legal policy at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here.
This piece originally appeared in New York Post