It's critically important and so happy
to have worked on really working on this
reform the most violent offenders will
now be able to be detained and defenders
I really shouldn't be incarcerated will
be able to not languish in jail.
Passaic County Prosecutor Camellia
Valdes is a former assistant US attorney
and says New Jersey's new system is very
similar to the federal system.
Well I think that once we get our
bearings and we're in the process of
figuring that out because it is such a
such a sea change for the state but
having come from the federal system I
can tell you that it works very well and
it works efficiently. And again the most
violent are detained and the ones that
really shouldn't be detained will be
able to get out much faster. Criminal
justice reform will create a fairer and
better system of criminal justice based
on objective risk factors that are not
related to a person's wealth. Promote
Public Safety by allowing judges to
detain high-risk defendants and protect
the Liberty interests of poor low-risk
defendants. It'll benefit our office
because cases will be processed much
faster. We have a large volume in our
county. We average anywhere from six to
eight to ten thousand referrals a year
and so being able to bring those
defendants to court,  have them get into
the system sooner and make a
determination as to what we're doing
with them. To be able to do that quicker
will be will benefit everyone.
Valdes is confident it will benefit the
entire state of New Jersey. I see it as
a good thing. I see it as a
fantastic thing and I am looking forward
to the time where we all know what it's
going to look like.  I think that some of
the anxiety that we feel because no one
really no one is really sure but i'm
confident that we're going to get there
like we've gotten with like we've got in
there with every other initiative we've
tried to do in the state.
