Is it fair that a defendant with limited
financial resources but posing a low risk
of committing a crime, are held in jail
pending trial?
Is it fair that defendants who pose significant
risks to committing additional charges
or may seek to obstruct justice to
witness intimidation or retaliation are
released because they have access to
money and can be released on bail?
Is it fair that the arbitrary factors of
economic resources not risk of flight,
not dangerousness or failure to appear
will determine more often than not, whether
one is pretrial detained?
Is it fair defendants who are presumed innocent can
sometimes spend years in jail awaiting
trial?
We are here because we can and we
know we can do better.
We are here because these enhancements these
improvements to our system can make our
community safer, our neighborhoods more
secure and they can also promote the
civil liberties that we hold so dear.
We are here because the recent events in
various communities across our country
suggests that there are several sectors
of our community who believe that the
system is unfair.
We are here because we need to answer those critics with
positive reforms to make our system more just.
We are here because lives can be
destroyed because they are sitting in
jail for inordinate periods of time.
We are here because the criminal justice
system has been constantly focused on
meeting its obligation to our
communities and neighborhood to have a
safer community and a better system.
America's exceptionalism and the continuous
movement to make it a more just society a safer society needs your support.
It needs your commitment and I would
suggest it needs to have champions like
all of you in this room.
There's some great work being done here
and I am proud to be part of it ladies and
gentlemen thank you
