The Trial Penalty The Collective Voice of the Defense Bar Must Be Heard
By Susan J. Walsh
Close to
four hundred criminal defense lawyers from forty New York counties spoke up on behalf of their clients, their colleagues and the Constitution last year to bring about The New York State Trial Penalty: The Constitutional Right to Trial Under Attack. Your thoughtful contributions from experience, data, heartache and injustice concerning the truth of the trial penalty in response to an initial survey outreach and follow-up interviews by pro-bono volunteers is the foundation for actual and impactful reform. Your participation is demonstrative evidence of the relevance of the voice of the organized bar. It is proof that when we collaborate and combine our voices with action for the collective good, no profession is a more persuasive advocate for reform than the one that includes those who sit in the first chair in the well of the courtroom. And, especially when we combine and speak with one voice, we can move change. Last February, seventeen members of the Trial Penalty Task Force, with the support of three NYSACDL presidents and the assistance of our national affiliate NACDL, plus the brain and brawn of a talented team of volunteer lawyers from Skadden, Arps produced a ninety page report detailing the role of the trial penalty. The report explains why our state faces a mass incarceration crisis; why bad actors in law enforcement so often act with impunity; and why manipulation of mandatory minimums in the charging process has all but eviscerated the right to trial in New York. The threat of a retaliatory sentence that multiplies the pre-trial offer exponentially after trial has packed our prisons with clients who fear the dreaded trial penalty
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Atticus | Volume 33 Number 2 | Spring/Summer 2021 | New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
