RISE Court Graduates Speak
of Second Chances Amid Stevenson
Tales of Death Row at SDNY
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY
COURTHOUSE,
June 13 – "I hope I never see
you again." Inner City Press
has heard and documented this
being said by judges at
sentencing proceedings in more
than one Federal court
district.
The phrase
sometimes unpacked or
qualified: I hope I never see
in my courtroom on a violation
of supervised release, but if
you see me in the street,
approach and we'll get a slice
of pizza. (Given the context,
no one says, We'll have a
beer.)
But at the
U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York
on June 13, the approach
described was different.
Graduates of the Reentry
through Intensive Supervision
and Employment Court (RISE
Court) spoke, about how they
had turned their lives around.
Judge Denny Chin, and
Magistrate Judges Cott and
Cave introduced the graduates.
At least two other Second
Circuit judges, and many
District Court and Magistrate
Judges, where there.
The first
speakers was Bryan Stevenson,
responsible for reversing 140
death penalty convictions over
a long career as the
founder and executive
director of the Equal Justice
Initiative. He described his
work on death row, and now in
Montgomery, Alabama.
On attended,
Judge Richard M. Berman has a
complementary
approach.
He calls
it Court-Involved Supervised
Release and in his June 10
report, "Judges Need to Walk
the Walk" he emphasizes that
"By re-focusing their
attention upon criminal case
supervision, judges will make
an enormous positive impact
upon recidivism
(re-offending)."
The
approach involved six to ten
supervision proceedings a
year, not just waiting to see
if there is a violation of
supervised release.
To Judge Berman's
credit, he does many, even
most of these by video
conference, despite some
arguing this is not available
in Federal criminal cases.
Even more to his
credit, he dockets a public
call-in line, which often
Inner City Press is the only
one to use. It is appreciated.
Judge
Berman's report has anonymized
case studies and statistics.
For now we'll note that his
approach is being passed on.
For
example, SDNY Magistrate Judge
Sarah L. Cave on June 10, in a
proceeding only covered by
Inner City Press, overrode a
remand recommendation by
Probation and released a
defendant, on the condition
that he have a call with her
(and Probation) the following
week.
The approach may
not always work - what does? -
but it can't hurt.
Once, admittedly,
Inner City Press covered the
proceeding of a defendant who
said, Enough calls, I'd rather
just serve my time and be
done. Sadly, the defendant is
dead. Inner City Press will
continue to cover such
reports, and cases, and calls.
Watch this site.
***
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