THE BROKEN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

I had worked for the NYC Department of Probation for 15 years as a Probation officer and as a supervisor. Although I only got a close-up view of the system from my own limited perspective, I think that this counts for something.

The system is broken. Approximately, 98% of the criminal cases are plea-bargained. This means that undo pressure is placed on the defendant to take a plea so that the case can be quickly adjudicated. The judges and the lawyers are overwhelmed with the number of their cases, and so they are under pressure to quickly settle the cases to clear their calendar.

The defendants are therefore the losers, especially if they can’t make bail. After a year, they are ready to plead guilty to just about anything so that they can go free. Here’s how it works. The judge will offer them a deal, which they can’t refuse – time-served + probation. Meanwhile, the defendants are warned that if they continue to insist on taking their case to trial, they can receive five-ten years if they lose. Their court-appointed lawyer explains to them that their best course-of-action is to take the plea and to go free from jail.

This situation is very awkward for the probation officer who must now supervise the probationer, who insists that he is really innocent of the charges, as they all do. I’d tell him that “You said that you were guilty of these charges in court, but now you are telling me that you are innocent! How then can I believe you!”

Yes, blacks are disproportionately imprisoned and placed on probation. You need only visit our waiting room to see that it is filled with people-of-color. Does this mean that the system is racist? I don’t think so. At least, I’ve never seen it; nor did any of the black officers, whom I had supervised, ever allege this, even though they saw that I treated my probationers with dignity and, therefore, might be amenable to such a complaint.

Whenever, my probationwers entered into my office, I would treat them firmly but with respect. I would offer them coffee and hot chocolate to drink. Why? Because they were human beings, just like me, created in the image of God! I therefore felt bound to treat them as such. When I thought that they might be amenable to my influence, I’d even meet them outside for coffee or take a walk with them. Even though I consistently explained to them that I was a no-nonsense, law-and-order type, they generally respected me, because they knew that I cared. One of them even volunteered to “take-out” my supervisor after he heard him disrespecting me. Of course, I declined his offer.

Their parents even respected me. One day, a mother came to me to complain that her son had returned to drugs and to stealing from her. She asked if I could get him into a residential drug treatment program. I answered that I would try if she was willing to testify against him. She agreed. I explained that I would have to file a “violation report” to explain all of the circumstances. Our lawyers would then present the report before the judge. I had even verbally appealed to our lawyers to advocate for treatment instead of incarceration.

On the day of the hearing, the mother asked me to go with her to court. Even though this wasn’t part of our responsibility, I agreed. However, the lawyers never requested the residential drug treatment program, and the judge pronounced, “Remand!”

This black mother felt betrayed, and I was furious with our lawyers. I stood up, identified myself as the probation officer, and explained the circumstances, but it was too late.

The lawyers beat me back to our office and had already filed a complaint against me for contradicting them in court.

Were they racist? They were lazy, apathetic, and displayed little human decency, but I never had any indication that they were racist. In fact, during my 15 years at the NYC Department of Probation, I never saw any indication of any anti-black racism.

Nevertheless, the criminal justice system is now called the new plantation to once again enslave black people. Is this charge accurate? I don’t think so. Does it gratify certain blacks who have adopted the victimization narrative? Quite obviously! It feeds anger and provides a comforting excuse for their anger. It is fuel for the leftist agenda of “divide, destroy, and take power.” It also satisfies the idealism of the youthful who need to feel that they are good, loving, and worthy and who succumb to manipulation of the violent who offer them a vehicle to prove themselves.

Nevertheless, the criminal justice system is deeply broken but hardly racist, at least from my limited perspective.