Heinous Crimes
In a recent letter, Mr. Perez wrote about two illegal immigrants raping a young girl in Rockville, Maryland. As disturbing and horrible as this is, we need also remember that we’ve had men who were Presidents raping slaves. Western settlers ravaged Indians. Servicemen in every war and conflict sexually violate women in the countries they’re fighting in. Clergy of every faith molest both young men and women. Correction Officers forcibly brutalize prisoners. Teachers engage in illicit sexual activity with students. Fathers and Grandfathers have incestuous relationships with their daughters and granddaughters. Are all of these instances somehow less heinous than that which Mr. Perez wrote about?
Yes, anyone that is here illegally should be deported because they are thumbing their noses at the laws we have in this country. Taking the proper legal steps to get here is one wants a better life is the correct way to go about it and they wouldn’t have to lie in fear of being deported.
Thank you,
Michael J. Rusznak
And The Survey Says? New Jersey’s New Bail Risk Prediction Computers Base Bail on Criminal Survey Data
By: Jeffrey J. Clayton, Executive Director, American Bail Coalition
Much has been made about New Jersey’s new bail risk-prediction computer. Highly touted for its use of sophisticated analytics, it invokes visions of sci-fi movie crime prevention of the future. In actuality, game show host Steve Harvey would be far more appropriate as the presenter of this bungled system.
Its true implementation simply takes a survey of criminals and their statistics while out on bail. A point system based on it is created and voila! Each defendant is assigned a decidedly low-tech score. Low score = get out of jail free; medium score = ankle monitor; high score = jail with no bail. It sounds easy, but it is nothing more than junk science, hidden behind view of both the public and criminal defendants.
In the movie The Wizard of Oz, the great and powerful Oz turns out to be neither great nor powerful. New Jersey’s bail risk computers are similarly hiding behind a curtain. No one is allowed to inspect the mathematical assumptions or data that was used to build them, or even check the math. Instead, the public is told that the great and powerful Oz, in the guise of the state, has spoken and they are left to trust it.
When deciding whether defendants get out of jail free or not, all we really have are some state officials playing Steve Harvey, asking, “And the survey says?” The computers then decide for us. Frankly, what the survey says is alarming.
The system is telling judges that people who have been arrested and have a history of dangerous behavior are not more likely to commit a new crime or flee. Therefore, they should be released from jail. This includes individuals who have repeatedly burglarized homes, solicited children for sex, fired guns at others, dealt 37 bricks of heroin in a poor neighborhood, threatened to kill police or have stolen money from a Sunday school.
The state of New Jersey must pull the curtain back on the new bail risk prediction computers and expose it for the fatally flawed system it is. The public has a right to know.
About Jeffrey Clayton, Executive Director of the American Bail Coalition:
Jeff Clayton joined the American Bail Coalition as Policy Director in May 2015. He has worked in various capacities as a public policy and government relations professional for fifteen years, and also as licensed attorney for the past twelve years. Most recently, he worked as the General Counsel for the Professional Bail Agents of Colorado, in addition to serving other clients in legal, legislative, and policy matters. Jeff spent six years in government service, representing the Colorado State Courts and Probation Department, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, and the United States Secretary of Transportation. He is also a prior Presidential Management Fellow and Finalist for the U.S. Supreme Court fellows program. Mr. Clayton holds a B.B.A. from Baylor University, a M.S. (Public Policy) from the University of Rochester, N.Y., and a J.D. from the Sturm College of Law, University of Denver.
