Letter: Bail and the Mentally Ill

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Re "Top Judge Says Bail in New York Isn't Safe or Fair" (front page, Feb. 6):

Kudos to Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman for calling for a re-evaluation of how we use bail to determine which criminal defendants should be incarcerated and which can be safely released to the community while their cases are pending. A task force of New York City agencies led by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is looking at this issue as it relates to defendants with mental illness.

City data show that mentally ill defendants are less likely to be able to post bail and stay in jail twice as long as inmates who don't have mental health issues. This holds true even if they have similar criminal histories, are charged with similar crimes and have similar bail amounts, because they tend to have fewer financial resources and family or friends willing to post their bail.

Over the coming months, the city will be putting into place court-based intervention and resource teams in each borough to collect information on defendants' mental health needs, risk of flight and risk of re-offense and will relay the information to the court to better inform its decisions.

In recent years, New York has shown the country that it is possible to reduce crime while also reducing the use of incarceration. The mayor's initiative looks to extend that promising record of achievement.

DORA B. SCHRIRO
Commissioner, Dept.
of Correction
East Elmhurst, Queens, Feb. 6, 2013

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