Adams: Speed up the courts
Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams on Wednesday accused the court system of “contributing” to the city’s high crime rate — and demanded more virtual proceedings to speed up the wheels of justice.
During a news conference in Brooklyn, Adams was asked if he agreed with outgoing Mayor de Blasio, who on Monday said the city’s courts were “not functioning” and “undermining public safety.”
“I think it’s a combination. The ocean of crime is being fed by many rivers,” Adams said. “I believe the court is contributing to this overflow of crime that we’re seeing.”
Adams also said the courts “just haven’t evolved” with the times.
“Why aren’t we having a greater number of men and women who are allowed to have teleconferences? Everyone is using Zoom. Why haven’t the courts caught up with this?” he said.
Adams also said: “The court must expedite, particularly, violent crimes. You can’t have people walking on the streets who have shootings and other violent acts.”
On Monday, de Blasio revealed that there were only 18 verdicts reached in criminal trials across the city during the first half of the year, compared to 405 during the same period in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic led to courthouse closures.
“The court system not functioning is having a bigger impact [on crime] than almost any other factor right now,” he said.
In a statement, Lucian Chalfen, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration, said, “We look forward to working with the new mayor and sharing our insights into court operations with him, including the fact that at the beginning of the pandemic we were the first state court system in the country to implement a virtual court model.”
Chalfen also said the “virtual court” system “has been and continues to be used in the criminal courts in this city.”
The comments were far milder than those Chalfen directed at de Blasio on Monday, when he accused the mayor of using “gaslighting rhetoric regarding court operations in an attempt to shift the public-safety discussion.”