Bailing on his responsibility

The Queens judge who sprung a 17-year-old accused of violent rape on $17,000 bail not only offended New Yorkers’ basic sense of decency; he flatly failed to apply the law. As the criminal justice reform winds in this city blow in the direction of greater leniency — keeping ever more pretrial defendants out of jail on the presumption that it’s a punishment for poverty — Judge Michael Katz’s treatment of Donovan Fenton is a flashing warning of what goes wrong when the pendulum swings too far.

Fenton stands accused of entering a discount store in Richmond Hill armed with a knife, leading his victim to the basement and raping her.

This capped a furious year in which he racked up eight arrests, including for a knifepoint robbery of another store and for punching a teenage girl.

Prosecutors rightly asked the judge to set bail at a half-million dollars; Katz — a Civil Court judge sitting on the bench in criminal court on a Sunday — came in with his figure, 3% of that.

In defending the move, court officials could only cling to the lame pro-forma statement that “Setting bail is not punitive. It’s to ensure the defendant’s return to court.” Which is a dishonest dodge. While bail cannot take the place of postconviction punishment, state law says judges must take into account the person’s “character, reputation, habits and mental condition,” “the weight of the evidence against him,” his criminal record — and his penchant for failing to appear in court on previous occasions.

Which is what Fenton did when, after getting a desk appearance ticket for the punch, he skipped out, leading to a bench warrant.

Prosecutors may get another shot at keeping this dangerous young man off the streets: A grand jury is to be empaneled Friday. Depending on its recommendation, bail could be reset.

This time, God willing, by a judge with a functioning sense of justice.