NYC public defender and former Manhattan DA candidate Eliza Orlins joins "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss crime in New York City.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Joining me now is Eliza Orleans, New York City public defender and former candidate
00:04for Manhattan District Attorney.
00:05Eliza, thank you so much for joining me.
00:08I'm so happy to be here with you today, Brittany.
00:10I want to talk about some renewed spotlight on crime in New York City.
00:15Over the past few weeks, we have seen rival accounts of men apparently punching young
00:21women in the face all throughout the city.
00:24What do you make of these accounts?
00:27Listen, I'm not one to call into question anything that people are reporting is happening.
00:33But overall, you know, I do think that people get whipped into a frenzy quite easily, especially
00:38when it comes to crime and it gets sensationalized.
00:43And ultimately, I want to make sure people know that New York City is incredibly safe.
00:47Crime is down.
00:48And, you know, it's one of the safest big cities in America.
00:53Crime is overall down.
00:55No one does want to be punched in the face.
00:57And when you see these harrowing accounts, it is really scary.
01:00And I want to talk about what the New York Police Department posted about one of the
01:04alleged assaulters, quote, The individual has been arrested and charged and is a criminal
01:09recidivist with an extensive criminal record.
01:12Your NYPD detectives were able to identify the man after he was previously arrested for
01:17similar attacks, only to be released back onto our streets.
01:21This incident will be his third arrest in the past six months.
01:25So I want to break this down in a few ways, because the NYPD is calling out that this
01:29is a repeat offender.
01:31What are your thoughts?
01:32Well, first of all, I think that we should take everything that the NYPD says with a
01:38grain of salt.
01:39You know, they regularly put out press releases and say things and make statements that don't
01:44comport with what the reality of the situation is.
01:47They are frequently misleading and they'll put out things.
01:51And then later, when body worn camera video comes out or when the facts come out, the
01:55NYPD is proven wrong time and time again.
01:58So first and foremost, I think that we should not be accepting any statement made by the
02:03NYPD as fact.
02:07So when you say that they have a different reality of the situation, in your opinion,
02:11what what's the reality of the situation?
02:14Well, so unfortunately, because I'm not privy to who was arrested, I don't know that person's
02:20name.
02:21I don't have an ability to look up their rap sheet.
02:23I don't know whether or not their prior arrests were real cases or whether those were cases
02:29that were ultimately dismissed, whether this person is being targeted by the NYPD, whether
02:33this is even the person, whether they even got the right person.
02:36You know, I mean, there are so many things that remain to be seen.
02:38Thankfully, we live in a country where you're innocent until proven guilty.
02:42And right now it's just an accusation.
02:44Whether or not the facts will bear out, whether or not this person will end up being convicted
02:48of this still remains to be seen.
02:52We've seen in headlines in recent months, whenever there's crimes like this that happen,
02:57the viral moments of people getting punched in the face that the officer who died in the
03:04line of duty, what and there's always the the conversation of bail reform.
03:11What do you how do you square bail reform away when it comes into this conversation?
03:17So I mean, it's unbelievable the number of things that people are willing to scapegoat
03:22bail reform with being the cause of, for the most part, the things that are happening have
03:28absolutely nothing to do with bail reform.
03:31And in fact, bail reform is an excellent policy and will keep our city safer and has already
03:37done so given that crime is down.
03:40You know, bail reform was put into place so that people who are presumed innocent, who
03:45simply lack the means to afford to buy their freedom, don't sit in custody for days, weeks,
03:53months or even years waiting for their day in court, waiting for their trial.
03:57You know, obviously, the case of Khalif Browder is the one that that comes to everyone's mind.
04:01Someone, you know, a young kid who was accused of stealing a backpack, who spent three years
04:06at Rikers Island before his case was dismissed because he and his family could not afford
04:10to pay the monetary bail, just a few thousand dollars.
04:14Ultimately, he took his own life based on having spent that time at Rikers Island.
04:19He never recovered. So, you know, bail reform is a good thing.
04:22It keeps us safe. And in fact, you know, these short stints of pretrial detention lead to
04:28more crime because people who are held in custody often lose their jobs.
04:33They can lose their home. They can lose their children to foster care.
04:36And they come out worse than they were when they went in.
04:39And that is why we need bail reform to make sure that we are not just, you know,
04:44detaining people in this wealth based detention way.
04:49What do you say then to critics who say that bail reform makes this city less safe?
04:54Because one of those critics is the New York City police commissioner.
04:58He blames some crime on repeat offenders.
05:00He said this, quote, We're locking up the same people over and over again.
05:05And we lock up someone.
05:07District attorney puts bail on them.
05:09The judges let them go to walk our streets again.
05:12It's a broken system.
05:13So, A, what do you say to those critics?
05:17Well, I mean, the police commissioner has consistently been putting out misinformation.
05:22You know, he fear mongers around crime.
05:24It's how they make their money. Right.
05:26I mean, there's an 11 billion with a billion dollar budget for the NYPD.
05:30And then they still spend hundreds of millions of dollars additionally in taxpayer money
05:35for settlements when they, you know, abuse and assault and falsely arrest New Yorkers.
05:41So, you know, I don't think we can take the New York police commissioner at his word.
05:45But furthermore, you know, what I say to critics is that, in fact, bail reform is the right move.
05:51It does keep us safe.
05:52It enables people to continue working, to continue providing for their family,
05:56putting food on the table, keeping a stable home and ultimately fight the charges against them
06:01without being coerced into guilty pleas, without, you know, having to spend time at Rikers Island
06:06where they could potentially die.
06:08You know, 31 people have died at Rikers Island since Mayor Adams took office.
06:13And it's it's absolutely tragic.
06:15And every single person who gets sent there, it's, you know, putting their life at risk.
06:20He's saying it's a broken system.
06:22Critics agree, obviously.
06:25You're saying this is not a broken system.
06:27This is actually making this no bail reform.
06:31Are you saying bail reform is a broken system?
06:34Listen, I think it's imperfect.
06:36I don't I'm not saying I'm not like, you know, I'm a champion of of reforming our criminal legal system.
06:41But I certainly am not saying that the system is is operating in a way that is is anywhere
06:47near close to ideal.
06:49But I I just think that we should be proponents of bail reform.
06:54And it's been very good for our city.