Mark Tyson
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Copyright 2003 The New York Sun, One SL, LLC
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The New York Sun
December 17, 2003 Wednesday
NEW YORK; Pg. 3
517 words
Mayor Plans More Courts To Address Gun 'Menace'
By DIN A TEMPLE - RASTON Staff Reporter of the Sun
Mayor Bloomberg announced plans yesterday to dramatically increase the number of special courts handling felony gun possessions in the city in an attempt to further reduce the crime rate.
Mr. Bloomberg said he plans to have the courts cover 35 precincts in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens by January, up from just five precincts in Brooklyn.
"People who carry illegal guns are a menace," said Mr. Bloomberg as he announced the expansion at City Hall yesterday. "Gun courts give gun crime the attention it deserves by focusing our best police, prosecutorial, and judicial resources on these critical cases."
The Brooklyn gun court, on which this program is based, began hear ing cases in April.
The courts were conceived out of a need to better focus the efforts of judges and prosecutors to cut down on gun crimes that were falling through the judicial cracks. The gun court essentially turns legal officials into specialists. It is set up with a single judge and three prosecutors handling all the cases from arraignment to trial.
"This is all about efficient case management," said the state's chief administrative judge, Jonathan Lippman. "These cases were getting mixed into the regular system and they didn't get the focus they deserved," he said.
That lack of focus meant that half the defendants in gun cases brought before judges in New York were walking away with minimal or no jail time. While there are sentencing guidelines - if you carry a gun there is supposed to be a minimum of a year of jail time - there was enough wiggle room in the law to allow exceptions. The theory behind the gun courts is that greater consistency in application of the law will make for a safer New York City.
"When criminals are afraid to carry guns the rate of violent crimes falls significantly," said the Queens district attorney, Richard Brown. "But unless those arrested are vigorously prosecuted the law is meaningless."
Specialized courts appear to be the wave of the future, and Mr. Bloomberg didn't rule out using similar courts to focus on other crime problems like rape and domestic violence. New York has established probation-violation courts in Brooklyn and the Bronx.
To hear administration officials tell it, the new court is not supposed to mete out heavier or lighter sentences for gun offenders. The idea is consistency.
The decision to broaden the special court system comes at a time when New York City is enjoying its lowest crime rate in a generation. Its overall crime rate in the first six months of the year was down 7.4%, putting it at the top of the FBI's safest big city list. The city's violent crime was down 3.3% from last year and property crimes were down 8.7% over the same period.
In a sign that the focus on gun violence is yielding results, the city is on track to record its lowest yearly murder rate in 40 years. There have been about 550 murders this year, compared to 590 in all of last year. The last time the city had fewer than 600 murders, save last year, was in 1963.
The nation's first gun court was established in Providence, R.I., in 1994.
December 17, 2003
All Rights Reserved
The New York Sun
December 17, 2003 Wednesday
NEW YORK; Pg. 3
517 words
Mayor Plans More Courts To Address Gun 'Menace'
By DIN A TEMPLE - RASTON Staff Reporter of the Sun
Mayor Bloomberg announced plans yesterday to dramatically increase the number of special courts handling felony gun possessions in the city in an attempt to further reduce the crime rate.
Mr. Bloomberg said he plans to have the courts cover 35 precincts in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens by January, up from just five precincts in Brooklyn.
"People who carry illegal guns are a menace," said Mr. Bloomberg as he announced the expansion at City Hall yesterday. "Gun courts give gun crime the attention it deserves by focusing our best police, prosecutorial, and judicial resources on these critical cases."
The Brooklyn gun court, on which this program is based, began hear ing cases in April.
The courts were conceived out of a need to better focus the efforts of judges and prosecutors to cut down on gun crimes that were falling through the judicial cracks. The gun court essentially turns legal officials into specialists. It is set up with a single judge and three prosecutors handling all the cases from arraignment to trial.
"This is all about efficient case management," said the state's chief administrative judge, Jonathan Lippman. "These cases were getting mixed into the regular system and they didn't get the focus they deserved," he said.
That lack of focus meant that half the defendants in gun cases brought before judges in New York were walking away with minimal or no jail time. While there are sentencing guidelines - if you carry a gun there is supposed to be a minimum of a year of jail time - there was enough wiggle room in the law to allow exceptions. The theory behind the gun courts is that greater consistency in application of the law will make for a safer New York City.
"When criminals are afraid to carry guns the rate of violent crimes falls significantly," said the Queens district attorney, Richard Brown. "But unless those arrested are vigorously prosecuted the law is meaningless."
Specialized courts appear to be the wave of the future, and Mr. Bloomberg didn't rule out using similar courts to focus on other crime problems like rape and domestic violence. New York has established probation-violation courts in Brooklyn and the Bronx.
To hear administration officials tell it, the new court is not supposed to mete out heavier or lighter sentences for gun offenders. The idea is consistency.
The decision to broaden the special court system comes at a time when New York City is enjoying its lowest crime rate in a generation. Its overall crime rate in the first six months of the year was down 7.4%, putting it at the top of the FBI's safest big city list. The city's violent crime was down 3.3% from last year and property crimes were down 8.7% over the same period.
In a sign that the focus on gun violence is yielding results, the city is on track to record its lowest yearly murder rate in 40 years. There have been about 550 murders this year, compared to 590 in all of last year. The last time the city had fewer than 600 murders, save last year, was in 1963.
The nation's first gun court was established in Providence, R.I., in 1994.
December 17, 2003
:banghead: