Visiting the Bronx Criminal Court

A New York moment:

Recently I spent time at the Bronx Criminal Court for a story I was working on. Everyone should try sitting in a few hours of arraignment hearings at some point to better understand our criminal justice system. The hearings are typically open to the public.

Arraignments, held soon after arrest, are where a judge hears charges and decides whether to set bail in a particular criminal case or release the defendant pending a trial. (Procedural details vary by jurisdiction.) The hearing may last only a few minutes.

In the Bronx, officers bring the accused before the judge, and then prosecutors detail charges and what action they want pending trial. Then the defense pleads its case, often for a lower bail or a release.

Defense lawyers I talked to said they often have only a few minutes to talk to their clients before going before the judge for a hearing that could put someone in prison for months while awaiting trial. The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that defendants have a right to counsel at a bail hearing.

This particular day was “slow,” according to the lawyers I was with—only 34 cases on the court calendar for the day. (They often have 60 case days, and that’s before the night shift begins at 5:30 p.m.) The previous day had featured pouring, icy rain and high winds, and that might have kept arrests down. Even on such a day, a citizen can see a wide variety of cases in a short amount of time—learning about the crimes in the community and about the real people, often with family members sitting in the back of the courtroom, who are arrested.

Worth your time:

The Atlantic’s Caitlin Flanagan, who has stirred internet controversy for her critiques of the #MeToo movement, does a fascinating podcast interview on toxic masculinity and toxic femininity. (Warning, she drops a curse word or two.)

Also, here’s a one-second video from the surface of a comet.

This week I learned:

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that beginning in October, the Department of Correction will house inmates “consistent with their gender identity.” New York already has a separate facility for those who identify as transgender. The city says it will make safety determinations in allowing people into a particular men’s or women’s facility. Hmm.

A court case you might not know about:

The conviction of three white Kansans plotting to blow up an apartment complex where Somali immigrants lived has gotten a lot of attention. What’s less known is that, according to the original affidavit in the case, the men also discussed burning churches that served refugees.

Culture I am consuming:

As a side dish to my Billy Wilder project, I’m watching movies by his mentor, director Ernst Lubitsch. This week it was The Shop Around the Corner (1940), a perfectly executed romantic comedy—which also provided source material for Nora Ephron’s classic You’ve Got Mail in 1998.

The film is the story of two co-workers (Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan) who hate each other but are exchanging anonymous love letters. One of the best jokes in the movie, to me, is the store clerk who runs out of the room every time he hears his boss asking employees for their “honest opinion.”

Email me with tips, story ideas, and feedback at ebelz@wng.org